Fisherman Jailed for Repeat Offenses

Samir Dario Rodriguez

A fisherman from Trial Farm in Orange Walk is serving a jail sentence for failing to pay old fines related to fishing offenses, and more time was added on Wednesday after he was caught again. Thirty-seven-year-old Samir Dario Rodriguez pleaded guilty to possession of undersized conch and lobster with which he was found on a bus coming into Belize City on December twenty-first, 2017, around four-forty-five in the morning. Rodriguez still owes the courts fines of thirteen thousand, two hundred and sixty dollars for convictions dating back to 2013 regarding possession of undersized conch, possession of conch during closed season, possession of undersized lobster and possession of the protected Nassau grouper. Rodriguez claimed to have been sick and undergone surgery and denied buying the material with which he was found in December. He also missed two court dates owing to his illness. But Chief Magistrate Sharon Frazer insisted that he would have to go to jail and set two prison terms of six months consecutively, as well as the standard fines amounting to one thousand, nine hundred and sixty dollars due by March thirty-first, 2018. If he cannot pay, he will serve an additional six weeks in jail but still have to pay the fines when he gets out. The original fine is still due and if that is not paid an additional sixteen months in prison will be tacked on.