Meighan Brothers, Tyrone and Ellis Back Behind Bars; But Where is Shaquille?
Brothers, Ellis and Tyrone Meighan are behind bars again, this time for breaching the conditions of their bail, while their brother, Shaquille who is also in violation of his bail, is nowhere to be found. The two brothers, who were out on bail on a charge of ‘Being a Member of a Gang’ that was brought against them two years ago, violated the terms of their bail when they failed to appear before the Magistrate’s Court on March eighteenth. News Five’s Marion Ali has the story.
The allegation is that the siblings absconded Belize and were intercepted trying to cross in the U.S. via the U.S./Mexico border. But the prosecution could not prove this in court this morning when the only pieces of evidence it presented to the court were computer printouts of transfer orders when the duo was allegedly handed over from Mexican to Belizean authorities. Those copies had no certification of a Justice of the Supreme Court or a Justice of the Peace and one of them did not bear the signature of the Mexican. But according to their attorney for that case, Norman Rodriguez, the pair had gone to Chetumal to purchase medication for Ellis’s sickly five-year-old daughter and while in Chetumal, they were intercepted and taken into custody, prohibiting them from making it back to Belize in time to meet their court date.
Norman Rodriguez, Attorney-at-law
“This matter has been in the Court for like two years or a little more and they’ve always been here, but they missed this once appearance and a bench warrant was ordered for them. At the time the bench warrant was ordered they were at the Immigration post in Corozal. Apparently or allegedly, they had been transferred to Belize from Chetumal where they had gone for a short visit. They were brought into Belize City and yesterday an application was made by the prosecution for them to be remanded to the Hattieville Prison until their trial date. No evidence was brought in this application to show that they intended, in fact, to even show that they were brought because the evidence brought – the prosecution attempted to ambush us, which is something that is not tolerated in law. And we stood up against that and we made objections and those were successful. So there was no evidence – the evidence that the prosecution attempted to bring were photocopies of documents unauthenticated. The only evidence that was elicited in court is that the officer went to Orange Walk, received two people from another officer who had brought them from Corozal, but that was, as far as I’m concerned, hearsay because there was no tangible evidence to support that.”
But while the Magistrate, Tricia Pitts-Anderson could not revoke their bail since it was granted at the Supreme Court level, she did remand them to prison to ensure that they do make the next court date before the Magistrate’s Court for a new charge brought against them –Contempt of Judicial Order, a charge to which they pleaded not guilty and for which they must now appear before the court on April fifth. Their attorney for this new case is Leroy Banner.
Marion Ali reporting for News Five.