C.J. and A.G. agree crime rate is too high
And the remarks at the ceremonial opening of the new session of the Supreme Court on Monday were not of the same note between Attorney General Wilfred Elrington and Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh. Both had opposing views, the CJ spoke of the lack of finances and referred to Oliver Twist who said “Can we please have some more”. The AG took issue with the long delays in rendering of judgments and responsibilities that befall the judges, whom he said are the best paid public servants in the land; more than cabinet ministers in fact. But there is one streak on which they both seemed to agree. And that is over the crime rate in Belize.
Abdulai Conteh, Chief Justice
“There were sixty-three murder cases dealt with by the Supreme Court in 2008. Undoubtedly, given the size and population of Belize, the trial of sixty plus murder cases in the course of one year is decidedly, by any account, a grave cause for concern. Sixty-three murder cases; this fact in itself speaks to the urgent need for action to combat the spreading malaise of crime in general and violent crime of homicide in particular. This gloomy picture is compounded by the police report of some hundred odd murders for the year 2008 alone. The situation cries out for immediate and coordinated action at all levels and on all fronts; the home, the school, the neighbourhoods, the communities, in the houses of worship, in the workplace and of course at the level of law enforcement, including the police department, the D.P.P.’s office and the lower courts themselves. A sustained and all out war must be waged against this scourge of crime that is now fast-spreading.”
Wilfred Elrington, Attorney General
“An increasing number of people have the perception that it is now safer to commit murder than to steal in Belize because murderers are invariably acquitted while the man who steals a trifling object is lost in jail. That is the consensus, people feel that it is better you kill and that perhaps could explain why so many murders are being committed.”
“The fear was expressed to me, in certain very senior judicial quarters in our country, that our Magistrates’ Courts may be dispensing more injustice than justice. And in those same circles the views expressed to me that it was not inconceivable that a civil suit in negligence could one day be brought against the government arising from the delay in the delivery of judgment.”
While faith is lacking, Elrington said his government will do all in its power to restore that trust.
