And while Wade is out on bail, another police court case had a sour ending for the cops. The profiling case brought by two men who were harassed by police was ruled in their favor and they were awarded damages at the Supreme Court. Today, the ComPol said they're looking into the possibility of an appeal.
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police "It's something we're looking at with the AG ministry to see if there was any error on the trail judge part and if it is that we see that there is any loophole or error, then we certainly will appeal but at this time I cannot say."
Reporter "We haven't been able to see the judgement, do you know if damages were granted?"
Chester Williams "We have not seen the written judgement either and I am waiting for the written judgement and once I receive the written judgement then my legal will go through it and then we will see if anything we can do in terms of appealing. Yes, damages were awarded, I think Mr. Nunez got 5,000 plus 12,000 and Codd got 3,000 plus 12,000 and each receive lawyer fee of 12,000 dollars."
Jarrid's Boat Found
Switching now to an update on missing fisherman Jarrid Usher. Usher has been lost at sea since July 5th, that's over three weeks, and the Coast Guard has only now found his vessel. Here's more from Lt. John Diego:
Another fisherman, Independence resident Karl Wagner also remains missing.
Fisheries Patrol Items Recovered
And while the country is all abuzz about Usher and Wagner's disappearance, less attention has been paid to the ambush and robbery of fisheries personnel at sea on Sunday.
It happened in the Bacalar Chico marine reserve - within sight of the Coast Goard Operating base - but the Guardsmen didn't have a boat available.
However, the Coast Guard were quick to recover with a bust that recovered some of the items.
Lieutenant Diego told us more:
Present Day Piracy
And what is robbery on the sea? Well, as antiquated as it sounds, it's piracy.
And It's keeping the Coast Guard busy. Today Lieutenant Diego told those who find themselves in peril on the sea, just who to call.
Will The Eleventh Go Through? And in politics, we asked the education minister if the government is leaning towards a constitutional assembly, as the social partners have suggested. He said that seems more likely than taking a piecemeal approach.
Kareem On The 11th And we asked the Police Minister, who has always been on the side of reform, about the 11th amendment. As the leader of the opposition has indicated, he believes the amendment is an attack on him and on other Belizeans who have been to prison and have been rehabilitated. Musa said it's simply raising the bar for the nation's leaders.
Police Scholarships And while Fonseca and Musa gave the media about 15 stories today, we really met up with them and the ComPol at a scholarship ceremony this afternoon. 40 at-risk youths were given a chance at an education in skills training after being awarded with scholarships. The Minister of Education said that they wanted to aid in the fight against crime by changing the direction of the lives of these young people.
Yaya On Emancipation Nation
This coming weekend will be a holiday weekend and the very first time that Belize will observe African Emancipation Day.
This coming August 1st will be remembered all over the world as the anniversary of the end of the trans-Atlantic Human Trafficking in enslaved Africans, one of the greatest human rights abuses in World History. On August 1st, 1834, the British Empire began to enforce the abolition of slavery in all British colonies. And, in remembrance of the end of that historic wrong, Belize will celebrate this day next Monday.
For a number of years now, the UBAD Educational Foundation and its partners have observed Emancipation Day, and for this coming anniversary, they have an entire weekend full of activities planned. This evening, we spoke via zoom with the Foundation's chairperson, and she provided a bit of context to this important discussion:
The celebration of Emancipation Day begins tomorrow with a zoom webinar entitled "Know Your Past", which is being hosted by the Leo Bradley Library.
