On Monday's newscast, we told you how Darrell "Tutsi" Usher, the ex-cop who's also the son of PUP Minister of State Gilroy Usher Sr., was arraigned and remanded to the Belize Central Prison.
Police have charged "Tutsi" with possession of an unlicensed firearm and unlicensed ammunition because they say that they caught him with what could be the murder weapon that was used to shoot and kill 25-year-old Jovanni Augustine last Saturday afternoon. As we told you, police have already arrested and charged Kareem Beeks with murder for Augustine's fatal shooting.
Usher and his attorney "Dickie" Bradley, promptly applied to the Supreme Court for bail, and the matter was heard today before Justice Herbert Lord. The hearing couldn't be completed, and depending on who you ask, it is either a deliberate attempt to extend Usher's stay at the Belize Central Prison, or an attempt to address the case with caution.
At the conclusion of this afternoon's court hearing, Bradley granted us an interview, and here's how he described the handling of the petition by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution:
Richard "Dickie" Bradley - Attorney for Darrell "Tutsi" Usher
"Darrell Usher has been accused of having a firearm that had in some rounds of ammunition. He has a proper explanation for that matter, which will come to the attention of the public in due course. He applied from Tuesday to the Supreme Court, as his constitutional right, for him to be released and given his freedom. This morning, in the court of Justice Lord, Sheneiza Smith - whenever you see her, you know she comes to object. She could not tell the court whether she's objecting, or whether she's just asking for an adjournment. She made the incredible claim this morning - brought no kind of papers - to say Darrell Usher is currently to be indicted in the Supreme Court on 5 counts of attempted murder. So, the judge kept asking her, 'Are you objecting to the bail?' The only application in front of his lordship is that Darrell is asking what everybody asks when they are charged and they are remanded by a magistrate court. There are no grounds to keep Mr. Darrell Usher in prison unless what the crown counsel is saying is true. [She] could not present anything to the judge. [She] could not properly answer a simple question, 'Are you objecting to the bail?' If she said she was objecting, we would then have fought the matter and pointed out [that] there is a copy of criminal history from the court itself, that shows [that] Darrell Usher has no outstanding charges. They're targeting this man. It is clear that they are. In fact, he gave the police, on Saturday, a proper explanation that anybody with sense listened to it, even if you don't like somebody, you don't go ahead and charge them for something like that. Please let the public remember. Nobody is saying Darrell Usher committed any shooting of anyone. Nobody is saying that he aided and abetted in the shooting of anyone. Nobody is saying that he conspired to shoot anyone. Come on, man."
There is the suggestion that maybe, the DPP's Office and Senior Crown Counsel Sheiniza Smith might be confusing Darrell "Tutsi" Usher with another defendant with the same first and last name from Belmopan.
This evening, we requested a comment from the DPP's Office, and Senior Crown Counsel Smith told us via WhatsApp that she informed the court that it appears that Usher has these pending matters for attempted murder. She told us that she was simply asking the court to grant an adjournment so that a more in-depth inquiry could be made about "Tutsi" Usher's history.
Smith added, quote, "When asked if I'm currently objecting, I told his Lordship that I am not in a position to give an informed response, since I do not know the real status of the pending matter, and that his Lordship… is not in a position to adjudicate over the bail application, since he does not know whether [or not] the Petitioner has a pending matter. We needed time to properly inform ourselves.
Attorneys have to understand that the prosecution needs time to do due diligence on these applications and to stop giving the public the impression that the prosecution goes to court unprepared." End Quote.
She also said that there was a previous requirement that the DPP's Office be given 10 days' notice before a bail application is heard and that the time limit has been removed.
So, that's where it's at tonight. Tutsi remains on remand, and the bail petition will continue next Monday.
