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Bradley Paumen’s Case Compounds With Confusion
posted (January 29, 2016)
Last night, we told you about the additional charges that American Tour Operator Bradley Paumen was jailed for when he re-appeared in Belmopan Magistrate's Court yesterday. Well, this morning, his attorneys went to the court seeking to get him an expedited bail hearing at the Supreme Court. Paumen, Lisburn Anderson, businessman Jahan Abadi of Belmopan, and Korean American Hyang Choing Park were charged with the perversion of justice and the conspiracy to pervert justice. Paumen and Anderson were charged for planting a .22 rifle and 150 live rounds in Michael Modiri's vehicle in April, 2015. Park was charged with enlisting policeman Solomon Mas in February of 2015 - who was allegedly hired as the hitman. Abadi is also accused of facilitating a key to get into Modiri's vehicle so the weapon could be planted. It's not the type of thing that happens very often, but today, the DPP's Office was blindsided with a very late notice that they must appear in court to present the state's position as to why Paumen should not be granted bail. A Supreme Court judge did grant them an audience, but the Crown Counsel from the DPP's Office informed the court that they were not given adequate time to prepare their grounds for objecting to Paumen getting bail. The court considered that and adjourned the bail hearing to Wednesday, by which time the Prosecution is expected to come to the court with full grounds as to why the court should or should not entertain Paumen in his attempt for bail the second time around. While that was happening in Belize City, Jahan Abadi and Hyang Choing Park had to be taken before San Ignacio Magistrate Albert Hoare. The court was to consider whether or not they should be granted bail, and their attorneys, Estevan Perrera and Kevin Arthurs, were supposed to make submissions to the Magistrate as to why these two defendants should not be remanded to prison. The court set the time for this hearing at 11 o'clock, but some sort of scheduling error caused them not to make it in time. The court waited for another hour and when the attorneys didn't appear, Magistrate Hoare then proceeded with the hearing. Since there was no one to object to the decision, Magistrate Hoare then announced to both defendants that after consideration they would not be granted bail. They've been remanded into custody until March 8.

About a half hour or so later, their attorneys arrived in San Ignacio, but by that time, there was nothing they could do to intercede on their clients' behalf. We spoke to Kevin Arthurs about the apparent failure to arrive on time, and here's what he told us outside of court:

Kevin Arthurs, Attorney for Defendants
"The counsel and I had another matter in the Supreme Court and we had called to inform the court, which we did, and we permitted to be here by 12:30. We were made to understand that this was relayed to the magistrate, for some reason unbeknown to us, the magistrate - I don't know if there is a bit of discomfort within at the level of the case which is a small matter for our clients. Because there are two separate matters going on here. Unfortunately as we keep on bringing up to the court the two issues are being molded together and for some reason the magistrate - as you see I was told that he was seen running up the hill when I came. That he has chosen not to hear the matter. But at the end of the day what has happened, is that we have someone who is in custody for which our exchanges with the DPP herself and you saw us on the verandah speaking earlier, is that she doesn't necessarily have an issue with them being admitted to bail. She had asked in relation to certain conditions in relations to one of these parties and so that is what will happen at some point in time today. Because as you understand this is not a formality. For the most part if the DPP who has made her assessment has no issue with the bail being granted. So we are in a position now where the only thing we have to do is to get the court to actually admit them to bail and so we are in the process of making sure that we secure that for these two people who are languishing in jail in a situation where the court really should facilitate their release."

Mike Rudon, Ch5
"What are your options at this point? Do you need to somehow get in touch with the magistrate and ask him to re-hear this..."

Kevin Arthurs, Attorney for Defendants
"We would have to run him down, but we in all seriousness are looking at other options. We have spoken to the DPP who has been very judicious."

So… the criminal charge of trying to pervert justice and the conspiracy to pervert justice… what are those charges? Well, we asked Arthurs about it today, and he told us that these laws were crafted specifically to combat persons trying to tamper with witnesses in criminal trials, and persons who decide to wreck the prosecution's case by not cooperating on the witness stand. He says that the prevailing wisdom is that the police are attempting to use these charges in an usual way against his clients, and not for the purposes that they were amended:

Kevin Arthurs, Attorney for Defendants
"As senior counsel Mr. Lindo says it's something that he has never seen before. It's a recent amendment and when you look at the act itself, it's a 2014 amendment. There were 3 sections which were amended at the time and it was design to deal with persons who are supposed to go to the Supreme Court and testify, but somehow, they change their story and it was design to deal with those people who try to get person not to testify or who change their story halfway. It was not design in any way to deal with any situation which they are alleging happened in this case."

We understand Arthurs and Perrera did not end their attempts to get bail for their clients in San Ignacio. They managed to convince a judge to hear the case in Belmopan, but with the condition that the DPP must be heard as to their position to bail. That hearing was supposed to happen later in the evening, but our information says that the DPP fell ill and had to be hospitalized. It is expected that as soon as she is well enough, that bail hearing should take place.

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