7 News Belize

A Major Break In Court
posted (June 18, 2014)

52 year-old Robert Major, a former football player, got a rare stroke of judicial leniency when he was allowed to walk out of Magistrate’s Court a free man after being charged for assaulting a police officer.

Police Constable Nolbert Segura reported that around 2:15 p.m. on June 16, he was on board a bus heading to Belize City when Major boarded. The officer said that major was walking down the aisle and threw water in his face. He said that when he identified himself as a police officer, Major punched him in the right eye. That started a fight, during which Segura’s civilian shirt was torn.

Segura said he called the police and when they arrived they took Major into custody and charged him with wounding and damage to property.

Major pleaded guilty to the charges, which would have earned him a sentence. But after he gave his version of events, he was released instead. His explanation for the altercation with the police was that when he boarded the bus he had his water bottle held over his head and some of the water dripped on the face of the officer. He said the officer punched him in his face and he retaliated. He said when the police arrived they beat him.

After hearing his version of events, Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith, notwithstanding the guilty plea, threw the charges out of court, and allowed him to walk out a free man.

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