Turning to the courts…A former security guard is happily home tonight after he had already been remanded to prison for an incident that purportedly occurred before the Easter holidays. The resident of the Lords Bank area, Darell Gray was wrongly accused of holding up a city man and allegedly robbing him of his cell-phone, ring […]
A father of ten children was convicted today of sexually assaulting the mother of seven of his children. The court ordered forty-year-old Andy Garcia of Belize City to be on good behaviour for this year or he will have to spend six months in jail. This morning, Garcia pleaded guilty to sexual and common assault […]
Eighteen-year-old Danika Beaton, a resident of Dolphin Street, and Nicole Lamb, a pregnant domestic, have been charged with five counts of aggravated assault with a knife. They have also been charged with one count of wounding in connection with an attack on April seventh here in Belize City. It is alleged that the duo was […]
A nineteen-year-old fisherman of Crooked Tree Village is on remand at the Belize Central Prison tonight after being arraigned on a pair of indictable offenses, following a brawl in that rural community. Elton Baiza was badly injured and left for dead on April seventh when he got into a physical altercation with Ravin Gillett, whom […]
Attorney Andrew Bennett’s fight to stay in Belize continues. Bennett, who is fighting an extradition request from the U.S. Government, appeared on Monday before Chief Magistrate Sharon Frazer. The first hearing, however, was adjourned to April thirtieth. The Chief Magistrate explained that since the crown counsel who was prosecuting the case was transferred to another […]
A father of Lacroix Boulevard in Belize City is in big trouble with the law after a thirteen-year-old child made a report that she was touched inappropriately by a grown man. Twenty-six-year-old fisherman, Glenford Alvarez appeared in court today and is spending his first night on remand after he was denied bail on two counts […]
A warrant for the arrest San Pedro resident, Corazon Artulio Cortez was issued this morning by Magistrate Emmerson Banner. He found the accused guilty of drug trafficking and slapped him with a mandatory fine and jail term. A non-custodial fine of ten thousand dollars and a custodial sentence of three years were handed down to […]
The first hearing of the Opposition’s suit against the Government of Belize with respect to the writ of referendum was scheduled to be heard today in the courtroom of Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin. But since the granting of the interim injunction which essentially stopped the April tenth I.C.J. referendum, there have been important developments. The […]
Representing the People’s United Party today in place of lead attorney, Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay was attorney Kareem Musa. According to Musa, his clients have been consulted with respect to G.O.B.’s application to have the injunction discharged since it was just announced this morning. He says that the second referendum bill clashes with the court […]
The murder trial of Patrick Castillo, who was charged with the murder of his stepson Yontan Maderos, ended today in the court of Justice Colin Williams. Castillo now awaits a ruling as to whether or not he acted in self-defense or if it was cold-blooded murder when he chopped up Maderos at their Kut Avenue […]
A B.D.F. soldier was before the court today on a charge of wounding, but his common-law wife later requested no further court action against him. But twenty-six-year-old soldier, Leroy Clare will appear before the Belize Family Court within the next five days where his common-law wife has asked for a restraining order. This morning, the […]
For more than a month, Primrose Gabourel and her son, Dion Zabaneh, have been in and out of court regarding a parcel of land in the Caribbean Shores area of Belize City. Well, there was another court appearance today; the mother did not attend due to her illness, but her son did and was read […]
Two Conch Shell Bay area residents have been detained in connection with two recent burglaries in Burrell Boom Village. The duo is Eugene Mark Anthony Fraser and Joshua Jeremy Gillett. Both were charged for the burglary of Countryside Trade and Service Center on April sixth, 2019. Allegations are that they stole an assortment of items including […]
Twenty-two-year-old Percival Pilgrim was this evening acquitted of a murder in the Mayflower Street area, aka “Ghost Town,” of Belize City. Pilgrim was charged with the murder of Edward “Ghost” Usher, which occurred on April eleventh, 2011. Attorney Leslie Hamilton submitted that Pilgrim did not have a case to answer and that Senior Crown Counsel […]
Both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal were in session today as Belizeans waited anxiously for what is to happen on April tenth. Would the referendum stand? We will have full coverage of this extraordinary day from the ruling of the court to a late evening press conference by the prime minister. The […]
Opposition Leader John Briceño has taken the opportunity, following the decision of the Court of Appeal this evening, to call on Prime Minister Barrow to return to the bipartisan approach in dealing with the I.C.J. referendum. While he did not gloat in the consecutive legal victory against government, Briceño pointed out that the Barrow administration […]
Immediately after the ruling of the Court of Appeal upholding the injunction, the Prime Minister held a lengthy press conference at the Laing Building. P.M. Dean Barrow accepted that the referendum would not proceed on Wednesday. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “We will not be having a referendum on Wednesday April the tenth. I am […]
So what the government’s next move? More litigation….According to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, the government will be looking at the Caribbean Court of Justice for another appeal, though that appeal is not likely to be launched ahead of April tenth. Though the Court of Appeal upheld the injunction, the P.M. also said that he believed […]
Many observers have been asking why the Barrow Administration hasn’t taken the matter to the House of Representatives to fix what he described as the possible mischief that the Chief Justice flagged when coming to his decision to issue the injunction. Here is how PM Barrow explained it. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “Well the […]
For context of the day’s proceedings, when the session opened this morning, submissions were made by the government side as to why the appeals court should hear the matter expeditiously based on the rules of procedure. Those submissions took all morning and when the court adjourned at midday, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte provided an update […]
Was Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai in contempt of court last Wednesday when she sent out a memo following the CJ’s decision to grant an interim injunction? Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay put forward in his submissions this afternoon that Tamai’s actions by instructing members of staff to proceed with referendum preparations, despite the Supreme Court […]
The Attorney General also told the media that the urgency on proceeding with the April tenth referendum was simply because a great deal of time and resources has already been expended on getting to this point of preparedness. Peyrefitte, however, agreed that if the referendum has to be put on hold, government was also looking […]
On Monday, the Government of Belize and the Opposition Party will go to legal war at both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear government’s application to have the Supreme Court injunction lifted. If the Court of Appeal rules in favour of G.O.B., this will allow the […]
The Opposition Party has until Saturday evening to file skeletal arguments after which the hearing will be held on Monday. For the government, it is a race against time and Peyrefitte is accusing the P.U.P. of purposely delaying the legal proceedings. Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney General “The People’s United Party does not want this matter […]
As you heard, attorneys for P.U.P. parliamentarians and the Government went before the Court of Appeal this afternoon for case management ahead of arguments on Monday. To put things in perspective, News Five’s Isani Cayetano looks back at the interim injunction granted on Wednesday by the Chief Justice which has triggered another round of legal […]
