Since December 2019, the well-known tour operator, Yhony Rosado has been waiting for the justice system to run its course. Rosado was the victim of a theft in which the culprit jumped into his pick-up truck, sped off on a joy ride, and crashed it in a drain, completely wrecking it. It was all captured on surveillance video.
And so, the following day, police arrested and charged Armando Medina, who was 23-year-old at the time, with the crime of theft of a motor vehicle.
With the surveillance footage, you might think it's an open and shut case, but, it's been meandering through the Magistrate's Court, and now, Rosado is outraged that it has gone over 2 years without any resolution.
At midday, he granted us an interview shortly after he received the update that the case has been adjourned yet again. Here's how he expressed his frustration that as the victim of a crime, he doesn't think he will get justice:
Yhony Rosado - Virtual Complainant
"I'm here today because this system is failing us, and I have given plenty of time to the officials at the police department, the CIB, and the magistrates and to the system to give me justice. Because if there was no system in place, I could have gotten justice myself in very few days. Not years. From 2019, to where we are today, I'm very frustrated. This court system with the CIB system, with the police."
Daniel Ortiz
"Prosecution as well."
Yhony Rosado
"The prosecution too, but Daniel, What I found out today [is] that who prepares the papers are the police department, the CIB. Remember, my vehicle was stolen from in front of my house. I reported it. I immediately called the police, and the police did the investigation. They found my truck on some part of a highway and then they found the young man with my keys for the D-MAX, and the papers from the truck like the truck was his. They took him, and the case was done for me. I was very happy about my camera system, and justice was to be served. A couple of years after, I'm here in front of this building that causes a lot of problems for our nation. Do you know how many business people are afraid to be mentioned in names in front of a court system? The reason I'm here today is to let this nation know. This is one of the reasons we have murders every day. We have murders every night because we don't trust our system of justice. So, we have to do justice with our bare hands. I have given time, and just now, I come out of this room. All you hear is adjourn and adjourn and adjourned. Just this morning, I heard that some files have already gone missing. Files will certainly go missing after so many years. And then the thing is, what happened to all the technology? One of the reasons the fuel price is so high is because of the payment - they have to pay the politicians, pay Chester Williams, pay the police, pay the prosecutors, pay the magistrates, pay, pay, pay, pay for nothing because you cannot get justice in our system. So, I am very frustrated because there's no way in - You know, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not seeing any light. The police and the prosecutor are frustrating me."
Rosado tells us that he tried to arrange an out-of-court settlement with the young man who was accused of stealing and wrecking his vehicle. He says that he was doing this out of sympathy for the defendant who allegedly expressed remorse for what he did. Rosado claims that a police officer allegedly discouraged the young man from entering that settlement by suggesting that the case could fall apart down the road.
Later on in the news, we'll tell you about the Impact Justice Report which has examined the Magistrate's Court, and the issues that causes those many adjournments that Rosado complained about.
