7 News Belize

Valencia Family Settled With Segura
posted (April 13, 2016)

3 months ago, we told you about the lawsuit that the Valencia Family was bringing against Deputy Police Commissioner Miguel Segura. It’s because of that now infamous accident which happened back in August 2014. You’ll remember it being the incident where he was caught on camera drunkenly buttoning his trousers, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. 

He was criminally charged with manslaughter for the death of 54 year-old Yolanda Valencia, who was in the other car that his police issued vehicle slammed into head-on. The driver, Yanie Cu, suffered severe head and body injuries and it took him months to recover. Even now, he's reportedly not regained 100% of his mobility and is deeply indebted.

Segura walked away unharmed from that accident, and he now stands charged additionally with drunk driving and other offenses. Right now, he’s on interdiction, but the family of the victims say that because of that accident, they’ve been struggling financially. 

Yolanda Valencia’s mother, Guadalupe, had been waiting for the case to go through its motions, but when it was called up yesterday before Justice Shona Griffith, the Government decided to settle it outside of court.

That has, for the time being, resolved the civil suit, and the Valencia family will be paid $70,000 dollars in compensation. One of their attorneys, Kareem Musa, spoke with 7News this evening about the very positive outcome:

Hon. Kareem Musa, Attorney for the Claimants
"Ms. Yolanda Valencia as you know passed away as a result of a motor vehicle accident which took place on the 16th of August 2014. Since then an action was brought by her mother, Guadalupe Valencia and subsequently by her children; 3 children and their attorney was Mr. Brian Neal. Both cases were then consolidated and the trail for this matter was set for yesterday before the Honourable Justice Shona Griffith. Before the matter got to trail I must mention that we've had ongoing discussions with the Attorney General's ministry, we weren't satisfied with the amount they were initially offering but in the end they were able to take that amount up to 70,000 dollars and such damages we have agreed to a settlement figure of 70,000 dollars for the family in this case."

Daniel Ortiz
"Okay sir in your mind based on the calculations, is it a fair settlement?"

Hon. Kareem Musa, Attorney for the Claimants
"I believe it is. What you look at certainly the most difficult task for any family to undertake in circumstances like these is to put a value on your loved one. That is the hardest thing for any family member to do but in this situation it’s an exercise that you have to undertake and what the law says is that there is a formula. You look at the age of the individual and in this case Ms. Yolanda Valencia was 55 years old and you look at her life expectancy and the expectancy of how long she would have been working; continue to work. As you may know she was a food vendor, so you look at the amount of years she would have had left to work and you calculate that based on her earning and in the end we found 70,000 dollars to be a fair sum. Again it’s hard to say what value you can attach to someone's life, 70,000 doesn't come close to what her life is worth but that is not what the law says."

Daniel Ortiz
"The layman who has no legal training would interpret this case on the settlement by government as an acceptance of guilt from the state. Is that a fair conclusion or is it wrong legally?"

Hon. Kareem Musa, Attorney for the Claimants
"Well I do not want to prejudice the criminal trial because that is still pending but certainly we felt extremely confident with the evidence that we had in our possession, the issue of liability for us would not have been an issue at all, it really would have come down to an assessment of damages. So I don't know if it’s an admission of guilt from their part of Mr. Segura's part but certainly in their defence he is saying he is not at fault."

Musa told us that as part of the settlement terms, the Government has committed to paying this sum within a month and a half from now. He told us that he expects that the Government will not delay in disbursing this payment past that time.

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