British soldier, Perry Ian Stratford, accused of kidnapping, theft, harm and damage to property by his Belizean fiancee, was locked up when he arrived at court today. That's after a bench warrant was issued for his arrest last week.
Today, the British soldier - who is not stationed in Belize but who was allowed the very special privilege of spending his remand at the BATSUB camp - was escorted to court by BATSUB personnel. As he entered the courthouse, police locked him in the holding cell based on the strength of that bench warrant.
The warrant was issued by Chief Magistrate Sharon Fraser after Stratford's name was called in the Belize City Magistrate's Court last week and he was a no-show.
But today when Stratford and his new attorney, Darrel Bradley appeared before Senior Magistrate, Tricia Pitts-Anderson, Bradley argued that Stratford's bail could not be revoked for absence because it had been granted not by a magistrate but by a Supreme Court judge.
Bradley explained that Stratford did appear at court with his then-attorney, Orson "OJ" Elrington but that Elrington told him the matter would be adjourned which caused Stratford to leave the court.
It was then explained to the soldier that he's responsible to make his court appearances, and that failure to do so could result in an immediate revocation of his bail. Stratford for his part apologized to the court and with that the outstanding bench warrant for his arrest was cancelled.
Stratford's case was then adjourned, leaving him to return to house arrest at BATSUB. His next court appearance for case management is slated for April 18th 2023.
