Policemen Granted Bail for Dyandre Chee’s Murder

Two policemen, charged for the murder of Orange Walk resident Dyandre Chee in March 2023, have been granted bail of twenty thousand dollars each when they appeared before Justice Derick Sylvester earlier today.  Viewers would recall that the shooting death of Chee sparked public outrage in the officer-involved incident.  Chee was shot and killed while riding a motorcycle and being pursued by the policemen.  Attorney Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley has been instrumental in the case and gave a synopsis of what took place in court.

 

 

Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley, Attorney-at-law

“A little over a year ago killing in Orange Walk Town in which a person, a passenger on a motorcycle, had been shot by police officers and fatally shot, and there were major protests in regards to the matter because they had previous killings by police of persons in Orange Walk under suspect circumstances.  But be that as it may, the two police officers, Solomon Cowo and Esmin Flores, were charged for murder four days after that shooting and they, in fact, were given disclosure only about maybe two months ago.  And they agreed to proceed to a preliminary inquiry without legal representation. So a preliminary inquiry was held and their matter would normally end up on the list for the September cases, not necessarily for trial because there are many, many more cases before them.  But it had concluded on the preliminary inquiry and is now basically heading for the High Court in the Orange Walk jurisdiction.  Being police officers, they are a bit familiar with the law, they were able to reach out to the legal aid services where former prosecutor Sherigne Rodriguez, and I think she was a former magistrate, I remember going to San Pedro in front of her, and today her boss, the director of legal services was in court.  The matter is this, that today for us attorneys on the defense side, marks a significant step forward, this is a huge development. In the sense that the honorable Justice Derick Sylvester was the judge that the matter of an application for bail for the persons who are accused of murder, he has been hearing this matter.  Today is not the first day, this had been before the court for a couple of weeks and he has in fact directed that they make certain submissions, written submissions, this is the course of records in the magistrates court, and today His Lordship brought a very lengthy written decision.”