Today, when asked if he could spare officers for the Magistrates Court, the Commissioner of Police suggested hiring security guards to assist the police. Williams explained that the department’s resources are already stretched thin, and the lower court isn’t as high a priority as the High Court.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“We do have a number of police officer working at the Magistrate court. We don’t provide security for the Magistrates Court as we do for the High Court. I tis a very tough one because we are really constrained with police officer. Everybody wants police and we only have so much. We have some areas of concern where we must maintain our presence. Mr. Romero, I don’t know how he is doing right now, but he must be good at playing chess. He has to constantly be moving people around to meet the policing demands. We cant wait until the next recruit squad to come out to complement some areas. We have the police station in Trial Farm that has been completed. We have to find police to man that station. We do have increase of number in Bella Vista, Teakettle. We are putting a police station in Teakettle. It is a lot. I cant really promise but I would advise they hire security to assist police in that area.”
Four distinguished attorneys have been elevated to Senior Counsel, a recognition that many say was long overdue. These legal professionals have dedicated over two decades to the field, and with this new title comes a greater responsibility to uphold integrity, professionalism, and ethical leadership. The elevation also means they can charge higher fees and enjoy increased respect from both the bench and their colleagues at the bar. News Five’s Paul Lopez attended the Special Sitting of the High Court and filed this report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Chief Justice Louise Blenman and the Senior Courts of Belize held a special sitting to celebrate the elevation of four distinguished attorneys to the status of Senior Counsel. Congratulations to Melissa Balderamos-Mahler, Ashanti Arthurs Martin, Priscilla Jennifer Banner, and Attorney General Anthony Sylvestre on this well-deserved honor.
Chief Justice Louise Esther Blenman
Chief Justice Louise Esther Blenman
“This multifaceted position demands not only your continued understanding of the law, but exceptional leadership, analytic skill and communication to safeguard your client’s interest which you are called upon to defend, while upholding the constitution and serving as a steadfast guarding of justice. You are expected to continue to lead the profession with integrity, intellectual rigor, compassion, kindness, dedication, and humility.”
Senior Counsels Edwin Flowers and Eamon Courtenay were on hand to speak on behalf of the newly elevated attorneys. Flowers praised the dedication and hard work of Melissa Balderamos-Mahler and Anthony Sylvestre, while Courtenay highlighted the achievements of Priscilla Banner and Ashanti Martin.
Eamon Courtenay
Eamon Courtenay, Attorney-At-Law
“They must understand there is an new begging, a new beginning between their relationship and the bench. They will be looked at and spoken to and the expectations from the bench will be different. Ti is a new beginning with other colleagues from the bar. The elevation signals that they have distinguished themselves and they will be expected to behave as senior counsel and the public will expect them to behave as senior counsels. You will no longer wear what is referred to the English as suffered robe with that pocket on the left at the back. That pocket was used by junior counsel so that they could be paid as they walk along the streets by the client. That money was put in their and these two strings would hold so that it does not fall off. You will now wear silk.”
Each of the four newly elevated attorneys had the chance to address the bench and express their heartfelt gratitude. Attorney General, now Senior Counsel Anthony Sylvestre, became emotional as he shared that he lost his mother exactly ten years ago on this very day.
Anthony Sylvestre
Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney General
“This moment where I have come, coming of age in the 1990’s when gang warfare emerged and started to engulf the streets of Belize. There is no doubt that I would not have been here, and this could not have been possible without the many intersection of the heavenly father. As you would have witnessed it was an emotional time for me, a very emotional moment. As I related the twenty-seventh actually marks the tenth year of the passing of my mother and as I related as well, it so happened that at the time I could the news I was in the precinct of the court downstairs. So, who could have imagined ten years later I would be in the same place , at the same time, literally, being elevated to the Senior Counsel status.”
Paul Lopez
“Does this mean your fees as a public official increase.”
Anthony Sylvestre
“No, no the fees remains the same. One of the things is that as attorney general it is service to the public and it is to be accepted that service to the public differs than if you are working in private practice.”
We also heard from the newly minted Senior Counsel, Priscilla Banner. She expressed her heartfelt gratitude and pointed out that it had been eight years since the last elevation ceremony. Banner acknowledged that there are many other deserving attorneys who should also be elevated to Senior Counsel.
Priscilla Banner
Priscilla Banner, Attorney-At-Law
“An attorney has a lot of responsibility to their clients, to the court, to ensure the court can trust the way you present yourself and the cases that you argue. They have a responsibility to their clients, to ensure they treat their clients reasonable, but the integrity in the profession is foundational. And I can count at least five to ten attorneys right now who has not been elevated and it is time for them to be elevated. It has been a long time and I trust that going forward these elevations will occur more frequently so that those persons who should be elevated are recognized by the courts.”
This morning, chaos broke out at the Punta Gorda Magistrate’s Court when a prisoner allegedly attacked the Resident Magistrate, Sashawna Jody-Ann Thompson. The accused, Mason Kelly, who has a history of serious offenses, including burglary, assaulting a police officer, and attempted murder, reportedly lashed out during his court appearance. Kelly, who recently completed a fifteen-year sentence for attempted murder, was in court facing new charges. Magistrates have long voiced their worries about the lack of security at district courts, but they feel their concerns have fallen on deaf ears. Many believe that out-district magistrates are left to fend for themselves without proper security measures in place.
The March twelfth general election will proceed as planned, free from litigation in the High Court. Earlier today, Justice Tawanda Hondora handed down a thirty-nine-page decision dismissing a claim brought by three claimants, following a marathon hearing last Wednesday. Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan argued on behalf of his clients: Jeremy Enriquez, Rudolph Norales, and Jessica Tulcey. They put forward that the electoral boundaries in Schedule I of the Representation of the People Act are unconstitutional. They believe that if the elections on March twelfth, 2025, use these boundaries, their voting rights and legal protections will be violated. They also feel they have a legitimate expectation that the boundaries would be redrawn before the next general elections. The claim was filed against the Attorney General, the Speaker of the House, and the Chair of the Elections and Boundaries Commission. The defendants were represented by the law firms Courtenay Coye and Marine Parade Chambers. This evening, we caught up with Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay to hear his initial thoughts on the judgment.
Eamon Courtenay
Eamon Courtenay, Attorney-at-law
“I am very pleased for the attorney general who we represented in successfully resisting the claim brought by Mr. Enriquez. As you know, the attempt was to, in effect, stop the elections which have been now scheduled for the twelfth of March 2025. I think that the judge listened very carefully to the parties, read tons of submissions that were filed by the parties and came to the right decision. Just by way of reminder, this happened four years ago, four years plus, when the Belize Peace Movement tried to stop the elections in 2020 and Madame Justice Arana, as she then was, I believe she may have been the Acting Chief Justice at the time, refused the application. So, it is history repeating itself. I think there are a few things. The first is that there is no case that we have found and none was presented to the court where a court has ever intervened and stopped an election. Secondly, there was a number of cases from the Caribbean that we put before the judge that shows that once parliament has been dissolved that the elections must continue and any difference, any issue you have is taken up after the election. What is surprising to me is that Mr. Ramlogan who represented Mr. Enriquez had written a document to the court saying that if parliament is dissolved, the court has no jurisdiction. Yet, when the matter was called up before the judge, he changed that document and put another one and deleted that paragraph. So I had to point out to the judge that Mr. Ramlogan was not being frank with the court because he knows what the law is and we listened to him for four long, painful hours go on and on without admitting to the court that the court had no jurisdiction. And so, we submitted to the court, relying on decided cases that once parliament is dissolved, the case must continue and you take it up afterwards.”
Before learning that the High Court dismissed Jerry Enriquez’s claim, we asked the Belize Peace Movement if their claim was similar. Attorney Sharon Pitts explained that both cases are related, and the court might decide to combine them. With the latest developments, will this claim face the same fate?
Paul Morgan, Claimant
“It is like two buckets, one has three quarters and the other has five eights. Our case is centered around ROPA, schedule one of ROPA. It is asking the court a simple question, whether or not Scheule One comports with the constitution. If they say yes then we lose. If they say no, the Elections and Boundaries has a responsibility to fix it. The election and boundaries has no right to run an election that is illegal.”
Sharon Pitts
Sharon Pitts, Attorney-At-Law
“Claim 730 of 2024 just by the number, predates the claim which I believe you referred to. It is open for the parities and the court in its own discretion and volition if it takes judicial notice to consolidate or join the matters. Mr. Morgan use an analogy of two buckets. It seems to me what we have is clearly the subject matter has to do with the voters, the division, the constitutional formula for voters and constituents or divisions to participate, the weight of each vote.”
Today, thirty-four-year-old Bethsa Ramirez appeared in court in San Pedro to face theft charges but was denied bail. Her attorney, Audrey Matura, argued that Ramirez isn’t a flight risk since she’s a naturalized Belizean. Matura will now have to seek bail through the High Court. Meanwhile, Ramirez is spending her first night behind bars. No plea was taken from her, and she was remanded to prison until April twenty-third. Matura has stated that she will apply for bail and that Ramirez will have the opportunity to clear her name.
Audrey Matura, Attorney-at-Law
“Miss Lisa Guerrero, the owner of Le Diamante is claiming that from 2019 to 2023, her employee, which was just an accounts clerk but whom she clearly wants to give the responsibility of an accountant, she’s claiming that this employee took money from her and she’s claiming that there are checks made out to the employee that amounted to some sums more than checks, but there’s this overall discrepancy. A key thing with this: according to my client, definitely this happens in many workplaces, too many times your employer says, let me put a check in your name so you can cash it for me because I need cash for X, Y, and Z. A lot of that happens. But we need for the evidence to come out and we will know what actually transpired. It’s one thing to say you have these charges against a person. It’s not a thing to prove it. Based on the information we got from police, there is not an audited financial statement. And clearly, my client will be able to clear up her name. But in the meantime, of course, it will be all over the place. It might affect her job, we don’t know, but it might affect her reputation, but the thing is, she’s innocent until proven guilty. And if Le Diamante is a properly operating business, you would have been doing your financial audits annually. You would have caught up on something if there’s such a thing that’s happening. But sometimes it’s not about whether you get to prove the case or not. It’s that you go after someone, and you damage their reputation before you have a chance to even defend yourself.”
Tonight, a local baker has come forward with a harrowing account of her experience with the Belize Police Department. Dylan Ysaguirre, a disabled baker from Dangriga, claims that on Thursday night, police stormed into her home on suspicions of her selling cannabis and possessing illegal guns and ammunition. She alleges that the officers overturned the baked goods she was preparing to sell and is demanding compensation for the loss of her goods and the emotional distress she has suffered. Ysaguirre, who was charged once back in 2023 and has been diligently paying her fine, further alleges that one of the officers disrespected her and even kicked her wheelchair. She suffers from a stress-induced autoimmune disease, which she says has worsened since these raids began.
On the Phone: Dylan Ysaguirre, Alleged Raid Victim
“They have been, this is like the tenth time that they’ve come to my house and it’s over the course of the past like year and a half, because last year I had gotten arrested and charged for some marijuana that they had found in my house. It was my personal, they didn’t believe it, so they put a traffic in charge on me and I wasn’t happy with that because, I tell them that, I tell them what is the main reason that I use it for, that I use it for herbal medicine, yes I smoke weed, but the main reason I’m using it is for my remedies and for my medicine for my son because, I am disabled, my mother is also disabled but my son, he is special needs, he’s not just disabled. They keep harassing me not even my personal, that’s the part that really hurt me yesterday because yesterday they were roughing me up and I had less than two grams on my table. And they’re still accusing me of selling weed even though I had less than two grams on my table and they’re still accusing me of selling weed.. I do not appreciate the way how they disrespect me as a disabled woman because, I know how women are, sometimes we’ll have scuffle and we’ll back and forth, but that’s not the way to treat someone in my position that’s disabled because they’re not shaved. She kicked my wheelchair while I was trying to stand up to make me fall. She disrespected me, she disrespected my stuff, and I feel unfair and I feel like I should get compensated for the cupcakes that I had lost. And also emotional damages. After they left my house, And after I did that live, I was so upset that I was physically sick, like my hands were shaking, and I felt like I wanted to vomit.”
On Wednesday the Belize City Magistrates Court had to be closed, because employees raised health concerns related to mold infestation in the building. The Punta Gorda Magistrates and Family Court are also faced with a mold infestation issue. That is yet to be addressed, even though there are complaints from employees of a similar nature. The High Court building directly in front of Battlefield Park is also tackling mold and a rodent problem. We heard from Attorney General, Anthony Sylvestre, on how these concerns are being addressed.
Anthony Sylvestre
Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney General
“I’m not sure if you were present at the opening of the High Court, but the chiefjustice did indicate that there are plans, in train to address the and this structure similar to what was done with respect to the other, structure which previously housed the Prime Minister’s office and the chief Justice office. So a similar plan has been developed to refurbish these premises.”
Reporter “How much would be the cost.”
Anthony Sylvester “That that project ran about two million, a little bit over two million.”
Reporter “Okay. So we’re looking at, similar quantum for this its a little bit smaller but…”
Anthony Sylvester “I would say in the range of two million. So the family court issue at Punta Gorda, that is an issue that would be addressed in the new fiscal year. One of the things so one of the issues with respect to the interim period is that in terms of allocations of financing but you haven’t raised it and it being a critical matter I will undertake that I’ll address and certainly, operating within reasonable provisions that are allowed for a government during this interim period it certainly will be addressed but thank you for that.”
Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan has responded to a letter from the law firm Courtenay Coye, representing the Government of Belize. This concerns a pre-action claim about the long-overdue redistricting exercise, filed in the High Court for Ramlogan’s clients, including Jeremy Enriquez, Jessica Tulcey, and Rudolph Norales. In reply to Courtenay’s letter, which stated that the Briceño administration won’t announce the general election date today, the Trinidadian lawyer emphasized the need for a broader commitment from the Attorney General of Belize. He requested that the Attorney General inform the claimants’ attorney in writing at least five days before any decision to dissolve Parliament and set a date for the general election, as required by the Constitution. News Five spoke with Jeremy Enriquez, one of the three claimants.
Jeremy Enriquez
Jeremy Enriquez, Claimant
“The government was, as we know, intending, the Prime Minister was intending to call or set a date for the elections, for the national elections to occur and what we were very concerned about, I, as a citizen of Belize was that the move was going to continue the status quo in which we have severe malapportionment of Belize’s electoral constituencies. So, as far as I am concerned, they were planning again to violate the Constitution of Belize even though when, at the beginning of their term, they promised that they would have all of that ironed out in compliance with Section Ninety of the constitution. So it was very disturbing that they would even consider rushing through another election without first redistricting the electoral divisions of Belize. It was at that point that we secured the services of an attorney, a well-known international constitutional attorney, highly qualified, from Trinidad, to assist in this case. He had written to the Prime Minister, to the Attorney General to make it known that any election that would be called would be considered illegal and in violation of the constitution and that we are going to challenge it through to the highest court, if necessary. As a result, the Prime Minister complied and did not, if he was intending to, announced any date for election. Hopefully, in good faith, to try to have this resolved.”
This afternoon, the law firm of Courtenay Coye, representing the Government of Belize, responded to a letter written by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan. The attorney wrote on behalf of his clients, including Jeremy Enriquez, requesting that the government indicates at least five days in advance when the date of the general election will be announced. In its rejoinder, Courtenay Coye wrote, “we acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February sixth, 2025 which we received via email at 10:14 pm. We note in your letter that you have demanded an undertaking be given by the Prime Minister by 4 pm today. As you have expressed in your letters, the House of Representatives is sitting today. Therefore, it is not possible for us to advise our client and obtain instructions within the unreasonably short period you have demanded. In accordance with the Pre-Action Protocols Practice Direction, we expect to be able to take instructions and respond more fully on Monday, February tenth, 2025”.
Jeremy Enriquez, Claimant
“We were satisfied to know that yes, the Prime Minister would not call an election at this sitting of the house, but there is nothing to say that he could not, tomorrow, call the election. So we were able to get another letter sent back to the Attorney General through the private law firm of Courtenay Coye and associates to indicate that we accept in good faith that the election is not called at this house meeting, but that if elections will be called, whenever elections are called, that we be given at least five days indication that the election will be called. That will give us chance, and the court a fair chance to be able to examine if we need to seek redress at the court, there would be enough time for at least that window of time for the court to hear our case.”
