The public image of the police took a pounding today: as it was announced that one policeman was charged for extortion and another was charged for handling an unlicensed firearm. First, to 24 year old constable Michael Diaz who was taken to court late this afternoon. He was charged for keeping an unlicensed 9mm pistol along with seven live rounds for the weapon. And while that’s serious enough, reports are that the weapon is being investigated for a possible connection to a stolen pistol from a robbery which occurred in December in the Bullet Tree area of Cayo.
But we aren’t there yet, and as to the gun itself, it was found in the possession of another police officer who told his superior that it was given to him by PC Diaz. Diaz had no license for a firearm, and the charges followed.
Diaz appeared before Magistrate Edd Usher late this evening where he was charged with two counts for possession to which he pleaded not guilty. He was represented by Audrey Matura Shepherd and Michael Peyreffitte, who both made submissions to the court asking that the magistrate order that disclosure be given to them by Thursday, January 15, of this week. They couldn’t ask for bail because under the gun law, no bail can be offered for possession of an illegal firearm at the magistrate’s level.
Shepherd and Matura say the disclosure will help them to convince the court that bail should be given to Diaz when they go to the Supreme Court on Thursday. In court this evening a number of his relatives were present and they maintain that the charges are purely malicious.
But until that is legally established or bail is granted, he has been remanded to prison. And while he is on remand, constable number 102 André Almendarez has not gone to court yet. He is accused of eliciting a bribe from a Salvadorean man who passed the Western Highway checkpoint at mile three and a half.
The man – whose name has not been released by police reported that yesterday afternoon he gave Almendarez one hundred u.s. dollars for ignoring a traffic offence. He claims the constable took the money, but he took the complaint to the police station. Police responded by sending a team out to the checkpoint and searching Almendarez. They found nothing, but a search inside the booth led to the discovery of a kit bag with a hundred us dollar note inside. That was enough for police to ring the alarm and release the constable’s name; he is expected to appear in court tomorrow.
