High Court dismisses appeal – Inspector of Police Christopher Martinez will have to spend his remaining 3 months behind bars for wounding conviction

Published by BBNTEAM at December 2, 2024

Posted: Monday, December 2, 2024. 12:59 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: Inspector of Police Christopher Martinez pleaded guilty to wounding Aaron Flowers while he was detained at a police station and was jailed for five months.

On Friday, he sought a stay of the ruling pending further appeal from the Magistrate’s to the High Court, but Justice Candace Nanton treated the hearing as the appeal itself and dismissed it.

Representing the convicted, Senior Counsel Hubert Elrington summarized the court’s decision which agreed with that of Chief Magistrate Jayani Wegodapola: “The learned judge of appeal sitting at the High Court level, felt that the [Chief] Magistrate had observed the legal requirements and [that] the sentence was not unduly harsh and would not cause the ordinary Belizean on Albert Street, say in the Brodies area, to be startled or alarmed by the harshness of the sentence. So, she decided that she was not going to interfere with the sentence. She also brought up, gratuitously, that a sentence [on] appeal can be increased, as well as decreased, and she wanted to know from the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] whether she was applying to have the sentence increased. The learned DPP indicated to her that they had not appealed the sentence, and she would not be jumping into that at this stage. She would remain at the stage that they had begun; they were not going to challenge the length of the sentence.”

A week after sentencing on September 19, Elrington had filed notice of appeal and in October applied for the stay of execution which the Chief Magistrate denied. Martinez was originally represented by Andrew Bennett and then Senior Counsel Simeon Sampson.

Elrington continued that “I would have preferred that the learned trial judge would have given us a little bit of notice that the appeal would be heard [on Friday], because it is unfair in my view to have the claimant’s attorney in the dark about when the appeal is going to be heard; he should at least be given a day to prepare.” But he was denied that chance and the court indicated that it was ready to hear the appeal then and there.

As part of his affidavit to the court urging the stay, Inspector Martinez said, “I believe that the learned Chief Magistrate, not being a native of Belize and not being familiar with the culture of Belize which is highly unusual, in which all ethnic groups live in peace and harmony for hundreds of years, the learned [Chief] Magistrate by her decision in my case sent a signal to the gangs that the police are fair game, and in particular those policemen and women who must, on a daily basis, enforce the harshest gang-repressing policies.”

Allowing that he can neither personally write, or direct his client as to what to say, Elrington drew on his near half-century of experience with the law and politics to contextualize what Inspector Martinez was trying to say: “The delicate balance that exists between what the gangs are doing out there and how they are reacting to the police, I have to be concerned as to how that balance is maintained. Because, if the gangs get out of control, we will not be able to live in this country, at least we will not be able to live in peace in this country. So, I am very much in favor of our police and I am very, very much against the gangs.”

Elrington maintains that harmony in Belize has been achieved by carefully managing our racial and ethnic mix. But the court did not see it that way, as Justice Nanton considered it “offensive.”

As for his client, Elrington argued that up to this incident based on the evidence available, he was an upstanding citizen, and a hard-working police officer, but “pressures” on him may have led to a breakdown. Elrington said a medical opinion and testimony from Commissioner of Police Chester Williams should have been included in the court’s determination to better achieve a reasonable sentence, if it was found that the convict suffered issues that led to the incident.

Elrington said he would appeal to Commissioner Williams “that he may want to make an application to the Governor-General to grant [Inspector Martinez] a free pardon. This will allow him to get his job back and continue taking care of his family and his children.”

Martinez will weigh a further appeal in the court system, but that is his right and he has been so advised. Elrington suggests that the appeal to the Governor-General would satisfy ‘many’ who believe that police should be protected.

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