Charges against Quan dropped; boyfriend takes rap
News of her arrest shot across town with the speed of a Marion Jones sprint, but after a night in a Queen Street holding cell, Marisa Quan finally got to face her accusers. That’s when the sometimes creaky wheels of Belizean justice finally began to roll in her favour. The Government P.R. Officer, along with her babysitter, was cleared of all drug trafficking charges this morning in Magistrate’s Court. At the same time, Quan’s boyfriend, Marion Paulino, pleaded guilty to the possession of three pounds of marijuana found by police in the house they share on Rio Grande Crescent in Belize City. He was fined five thousand dollars. This afternoon Quan spoke to News 5 about what transpired.
Marisa Quan, Cleared of Drug Charges
“Yesterday Corporal Hemsley and another officer, got to my office at the Fire Department and asked me to search my home. At that time I told them somebody is there, I can make a call; you can go and search. They insisted on taking me. They took me there and when I arrived, the girl that’s watching the baby was there and my boyfriend. At that time I informed him that they’re gonna search the house, and they were gonna search for drugs and ammunition, and if he had anything in the house, because I don’t and if he does let’s talk to these people now. He said there was nothing in the house and so they commenced their search.”
“They searched and they found the bag and he at that point admitted to them that it was his. I had nothing to do with it, the young lady had nothing to do with it; we didn’t know anything about it. And they still said and insisted they were going to take all of us. I requested at that point, and he requested if we could leave at least the babysitter with the baby, and I will go and he will go. They said no, they’ll take everybody.”
“So we went down to the police station. They proceeded to charge us, write up charge sheets, type up, everything. Everything was ready to go, by 2:30 minutes to 3:00. At that time one officer commented that, “no, we no wah do this today, we’ll hold this till tomorrow.” So they stopped everything, went about their business, and locked us up.”
Stewart Krohn
“You think that was done deliberately to make you spend a night in the holding cell?”
Marisa Quan
“Well, they have been known to be malicious, so I believe so, because they had no reason to keep me there and no reason to keep the other person there, because he had already told them it wasn’t ours and we didn’t know of it. He was willing to plead guilty, so to keep us would be pointless for the next day. Even if they had processed us and left him, I could understand that and I would entertain it, but we were already telling them what is. He is pleading guilty, we don’t have anything to do with this, let us go.”
Stewart Krohn
“So you spent the night in the cell, at Queen Street, then what happened?”
Marisa Quan
“Then this morning…they charged me at 1:30 this morning, they brought the charge sheet and told me at 9:00 they will take me over to court. I went to court at 9:30. We went through the case; I was represented by Ellis Arnold, and so were the other two. And at that time the charges against me and the young lady were dropped. My boyfriend was charged for possession simplicity, and he has to pay a fine.”
Stewart Krohn
“Okay, as far as you’re concerned Marisa, all’s well that ends well and that you’re acquitted of any charges and it came out the way you believed it should. But somewhere along the line here, ever since you ran in the election and then subsequently took a job for the government, you’re more or less a public figure in Belize. Do you think this prosecution had something to do with trying to get to you or get to people you are close to?”
Marisa Quan
“I think it was an attempt, and a very feeble one, at trying to embarrass our minister by using me. I feel that Dickie has a very upstanding reputation, he is a good man, and he has tried to help a lot of people. So by trying to embarrass him by doing things to me, is simply not going to work, especially when things like this happen, and people realise that it’s done out of maliciousness and because it’s done out of maliciousness, it’s thrown out. What else can we think?”
Stewart Krohn
“Who is trying to do it to you?”
Marisa Quan
“We can’t comment on that, but from the comments I heard at the station and the comments I heard this morning at court, it is clear to me that someone plotted and thought about and did what they had to do and insisted that it was me. It’s me they wanted, it wasn’t anybody else. They couldn’t even recognise him. Up to this morning they couldn’t recognise him. So it’s me they want and it’s harsh to think that our people can be so petty.”
Stewart Krohn
“Marisa someone like yourself in a high profile job, okay, you had your day in court, charges were dropped, you’re not a drug trafficker. But the fact remains that the man you live with is if not a drug trafficker, is a man who keeps a pretty large stash of…Two and a half pounds of weed is a pretty big smoking habit if you’re not dealing. Shouldn’t you be a little smarter than that?”
Marisa Quan
“Yes, and actually we’re taking measures to correct that situation as we speak.”
Police initiated the search of the house based on a tip they received from an unnamed source. That they enthusiastically acted on the information is evidence that they do their job without fear or favour…or is it the opposite?
