He has had a troubled relationship with the City council, and today Senior Justice of the Peace and owner of Lee’s Shopping City on Central American Boulevard, Archie Lee, is a happy man after he finally had his day in court in his latest squabble with CitCo. That’s because of the forty-one charges that the […]
Twenty-four year old murder suspect, Lloyd Faber, beat the rap when he appeared in the Magistrates’ Court today. Faber was on remand for Murder since September of last year, but Magistrate Dorothy Flowers withdrew the charge at the recommendation of the D.P.P. due to lack of evidence. Faber was charged with the murder of Jerry […]
And from politics to the courts, after hearing mitigation pleas from two character witnesses, Justice Herbert Lord sentenced, twenty year old Guatemalan, Yanira Escobar, to fifteen years imprisonment. Escobar, who also goes by Dominga Hernandez, was found guilty of Manslaughter two weeks ago in connection with the 2005 stabbing death of twenty-two year old Yesenia […]
A month ago, Cayo’s Police Constable Jose Zetina, was convicted of the gruesome murder of his eighteen year old common-law wife Rosa Mejia and today Zetina was back in court for his sentencing … life imprisonment. Just before pronouncing the sentence, Justice Herbert Lord heard mitigation pleas from Leo Bradley, Zetina’s attorney, as well as […]
Back in March, the Government of Belize decided to go after the Belize Bank for ten million U.S. dollars granted by Venezuela late last year in December. Well today, after what appeared to be endless litigation, the government received the monies in Round One of the G.O.B. versus Ashcroft match. And it was handed over […]
A decision was delivered late night in the continued legal battles between the Government of Belize and the Ashcroft Group of companies that have been tied up in court in a number of law suits. Last night’s decision came from the Appeals Board of the Central Bank which is not a judicial body and which […]
At six o’clock this evening, the Central Bank’s Appeals Board chaired by Justice Samuel Awich began delivering a decision in respect of the application made by the Belize Bank in the ongoing case of the Venezuelan and Taiwanese monies. The hearing got underway yesterday and continued today in-camera after appeals board granted a request by […]
A young woman, who had been in prison since 2005, was freed of a murder charge this afternoon by a jury of six women and six men in the Supreme Court. But the jury found her guilty of the reduced charge of Manslaughter, on a count of eleven to one. The woman, Yanira Escobar, will […]
Things got dramatic at Court this afternoon when the press was ordered out of a hearing before the Appeals Board of the Central Bank in which the Belize Bank is appealing to stay an order by the Central Bank to return twenty million dollars gifted to the government of Belize by Venezuela and Taiwan. The […]
Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh, this morning made his ruling in the case of the Belize Bank versus the Government and the Central Bank. The C.J. ruled against five declarations put forth by the Belize Bank and did not grant an injunction filed by the company in mid-July, objecting to two appointments made by Prime Minister […]
But two men had charges dismissed in court today. The two, twenty-one year old Keith Middleton and nineteen year old Marlon Foreman, were charged with aggravated assault for an incident on November first, in which three children and two adults were shot at. Magistrate Dorothy Flowers dismissed the charges when one of the adult complainants, […]
The Supreme Court is crammed jam with the volume of cases, but today there is a new case that is challenging a piece of legislation that has just become law. It is the Supreme Court of Judicature Amendment Act, which became law just a few days ago by virtue of its publication in the Gazette […]
The murder trial of a twenty year old Guatemalan woman was adjourned today in the Supreme Court. The trial has grabbed attention for various interesting aspects. Firstly, because the woman has been in prison for more than a reasonable time awaiting trial for lack of defense, and secondly, she was a juvenile when the crime […]
Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh handed down a decision this morning and granted judicial review in a constitutional case that challenged the Prime Minister for his government’s decision to amend the Referendum Act, before going first to the citizens. The ruling was thirty one pages long, took just under two hours to deliver, and was full […]
While his opponent was in the House of Representatives, former P.U.P. Minister, Jose Coye, was relieved of charges of Theft and Obtaining Property through Deception. The withdrawal of the charges was long coming and there had been reports to this effect for weeks, but it was only today that Coye was freed of the charges. […]
Government faces another threat of a sizeable damages award against it; this time in a U.S. District court in Miami, Florida where proceedings are currently taking place. Jeffery Prosser, who temporarily owned B.T.L., is suing the Government for substantial damages on the grounds that he was wrongfully deprived of two directorships in B.T.L., an issue […]
It is big news in financial circles and today Glen Smith, Country Manager of FirstCaribbean International Bank, appeared before Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie to answer to one hundred and thirteen offences against the bank for failure to report suspicious money transactions between the period of 2001 and 2005. The bank was charged earlier this month […]
A major decision was handed down today in the Supreme Court, but that judgment by Justice Samuel Awich will likely lead to more legal tangles between Belize Telemedia and the Government. It arises from an interpretation of Section 112 of the Supreme Court Judicature Act. Belize Telemedia and the Government have been in and out […]
But while Telemedia scored big this afternoon, Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh has reserved ruling in the case between the Belize Bank and the Central Bank. The dispute involves over ten million U.S. dollars gifted from Venezuela to Belize which the government wants to recover. Both sides concluded arguments and today attorney for the government, Lois […]
The case of the Belize Bank versus the Central Bank of Belize continued today before Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh. The Belize Bank is challenging the composition and constitutionality of the Central Bank’s Appeals Board in relation to instructions regarding ten million U.S. dollars which was gifted to Belize by Venezuela and a similar amount from […]
The constitutional case brought by the Belize Bank against the Government got underway this afternoon before Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh. The Bank is challenging the composition and constitutionality of the Appeals Board of the Central Bank in relation to ten million dollars gifted to Belize by the government of Venezuela. On March fourteenth, the Central […]
In the web of legal challenges in court involving Telemedia, this morning Justice John Muria handed down his ruling in the Christine Perriott case. The former Telemedia employee was let go by the company, re-instituted, and subsequently resigned her job. Telemedia was seeking an interim injunction to restrain Attorney Lois Young from further representing Christine […]
The murder trial of forty-five year old Police Constable Jose Zetina culminated today with a guilty verdict. A jury of six men and six women deliberated for less than three hours and found the ex-cop guilty of the gruesome murder of his pregnant common-law wife, Rosa Isabel Mejia. The murder occurred on November twenty-ninth, 2004 […]
From the Supreme Court to the Magistrates’ Court; on May sixth, police shored up by the Canine Unit descended on the Northern Highway home of well-known businessman, Jose Shoman, and his wife, Malachi, in a full-scale operation. But after a raid lasting more than five hours, the only charges cops could drum up against the […]
The high profile case of Theft and Obtaining Property by Deception against former Minister of Health, Jose Coye and his driver, Kernel Flowers, came up today before Chief Magistrate Margaret Mckenzie. The charges arise from an incident in June of 2007 when it is alleged that Coye misappropriated two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars from […]
