Clifton Robinson Remanded Pending Sentencing for Attempted Murder

Tonight, twenty-six-year-old Clifton Percival Robinson is on remand at the Belize Central Prison, awaiting sentencing. Justice Nigel Pilgrim accepted Robinson’s guilty plea for the lesser charge of wounding, revoked his bail, and remanded him to prison until his sentencing on February fourth, 2025. Robinson’s co-accused, Angel Matura, who was charged with him for attempted murder back in 2022, walked free after the charge was dropped due to Robinson’s guilty plea. The charges stemmed from a shooting incident in March 2022 at Matura’s yard, where Albert Reid was injured by a sawed-off shotgun, suffering wounds to his inner thigh and foot. Today, Robinson, following his attorney Norman Rodriguez’s advice, entered a plea bargain and took responsibility for his actions. However, he was taken aback when his bail was revoked. Rodriguez argued that Robinson, who had been on bail for over a year and consistently attended his court hearings, was not a flight risk. But Justice Pilgrim saw it differently, stating that in the interest of public safety, bail is revoked when someone admits to a violent offense, especially involving a firearm. On January twentieth, 2025, Robinson expressed his desire to enter a plea bargain with the crown, which was represented today by Crown Counsel Glenfield Dennison.

 

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney at Law

“The allegation is that he shot someone or fired shots at someone and that person was injured in the lower part of his body and the result of that, the police did its investigation and charged him. Clifton Robinson was not really my client. I accepted his case as a friend of the court. So I was there for that part of the plea bargaining process, just as an attorney sitting in. And now I am assisting him with his mitigation and sentencing. I actually represented the other court charged Angel Matura, but Clifton Robinson opted to plead guilty to the lesser charge of wounding and different judges have different approach, but the judge will always justify by  quoting the law and this judge was on point when he  declared that he had the discretion to revoke his bail, which he did and remand him until sentencing. The court that did indicate that the act of revoking his bail is not an indication of how the court will sentence him.”