Doris Grant and Austin Underwood Remain in Prison Under S.O.E.  

Two weeks ago, an attempt on the lives of Doris Grant and her common-law husband, Austin Underwood was made while the two were on their way home from a Trinibad concert in Belize City.  Grant’s name had been in the news on several occasions, following an arraignment in the lower court for obtaining property by deception, leading to several raids being conducted on her property. Just four days after the shooting, forty-eight-year-old Grant and thirty-one-year-old Underwood were charged with being a member of a gang. Today, an application for bail was submitted on behalf of Grant and Underwood by attorney Ronell Gonzalez, on the grounds that his clients needed more medical attention than what is currently being provided to them at the Belize Central Prison. Grant and Underwood were subsequently granted bail to the sum of five thousand dollars each. Despite this, the two are being held in prison for an additional ninety days, under the state of emergency. Here is Gonzalez with more details on his clients’ medical conditions.

 

Ronell Gonzalez, Defense Attorney

“I submitted and filed a detailed application for bail on behalf of both mister Underwood and Miss Grant and a major part of the application was to outline to the court their medical condition. Both are in serious need of medical treatment at this time. mister Underwood has suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg that I understand is being infected because of the lack of medical treatment at the prison. That is my instructions from him and that in fact, miss Grant also has an injury to the hand. Now, I have presented medical evidence to the court saying that both these individuals have bullet fragments. They have the lodging of the bullets in the skin and in the bone still. On behalf of mister Underwood, he has it in the bone. And I have the x-rays and so on that I presented to the court to explain that they are in desperate need of medical surgery. We have shown that there is medical referral saying that they need to undergo immediate surgery. After a period of time, as I understand it, these matters can become poisonous within the skin and therefore it causes a threat to, in this case, limbs and possible loss of limb to the leg and to the hand of miss Grant. So that is the position in terms of their medical condition at this time.”