Attorney wins libel suit against former Police Commissioner

Earlier this year the former Commissioner of Police Ornel Brooks accused attorney Kirk Anderson of trying to hinder their investigation into the murder of Jackie Fern Malic by urging the suspect’s girlfriend to destroy evidence. The attorney responded by filing libel suits against Brooks and Assistant Inspector Eli Salazar who made similar comments to the media. When both Brooks and Salazar failed to respond when served with a notice of court action late last month, the Registrar General informed Anderson that a judgement has been made in his favor. Since no judge had been assigned the case, the amount in damages has not yet been determined. Anderson says he is in the process of submitting the amount he is requesting to the Registrar. Kirk Anderson, who has maintained from the beginning that he has never, and would never, attempt to destroy evidence, told News Five today he feels vindicated and is happy to have cleared his name.

Kirk Anderson, Attorney at Law

“I am very pleased that I have been able to obtain judgement against both persons because as you know their allegations were very widely publicized, not only in Belize, but throughout the world over the Internet and so on. These are allegations which gravely affect one’s character as an Attorney at Law. I have family members who were very worried about the situation. Now they can rest if they did not know it before that there is absolutely no truth to those allegations, none whatsoever.

Right now I think that there is a different attitude on the part of police officers. There has been a change at the top of the force with a new commissioner. There has been a change at the C.I.B. office. I think those hold well for the future in terms of relationship between the attorneys and the police.”

Ornel Brooks, who retired from the Police Department following the death of a prisoner at the Belmopan Police Station on Independence Day, is now the Director of the National Drug Abuse Control Council. He told News Five he has no comment on the judgement. Eli Salazar is no longer with the Criminal Investigations Branch in Belize City, but has been transferred to Orange Walk.