You may remember the Smith family. They're the Belize City residents who were hauled in as a big group by the Gang Suppression Unit and remanded to prison. That's after a gun was found in their house back in July of 2014. It was particularly distressing for them because they were in mourning and police hauled them in while they were holding a repass for their murdered loved-one, Myron Smith.
The entire ordeal started when the GSU were chasing 2 young men suspected of having a weapon, and one of them dashed into the Smith home on Giles Street, stashed the gun in one of the rooms and tried to hide from the police.
The cops found the gun and because of the old Firearms Amendment Act 2010 - which has since been changed due to the public outcry - the officers arrested all 7 persons who were at home - basically, the entire family.
One of the defendants, a 17 year-old minor, wanted to plead guilty, but the Senior Magistrate warned him that doing so would not free the others.
So, they were remanded for an entire week, and when they came out, they filed a lawsuit against the arresting officer and the Attorney General for malicious prosecution and unlawful detention. Justice Shona Griffith delivered her decision today in the case and in which one of the 5 claimants, Ishaida (Ish- A-ida) Brooks, was successful. The judge ruled that while the police acted appropriately on a reasonable suspicion, they did not do enough investigation before the charges were laid. More important than that, Brooks was not a resident of the house where she was arrested. If the investigators had done any inquiry, they would have found this out, and therefore, they would have realized that she should not have been arrested and charged.
Outside of court, their attorney broke down the judgment for us which is not a complete victory for either side.
Anthony Sylvestre - Attorney for the Smith Family
"The Smith family, they were having a repass after attending the burial of their son and the evidence came out in court that the police officer saw 2 young men who were riding and they looked suspicious, one looked suspicious holding his face as though he had a firearm. The police officers pursued the 2 young men who ran up the stairs and into home of the Smith's. The police officer in the house found the firearm, where the Smith families, they were detained and they were charged. A week later the Director of Prosecution withdrew the charges."
"As the learned trial judge pointed out, in our view, based on the narrow facts that the firearm was found in the house, that it would not have been unreasonable for the police officers in those set of circumstances to have deemed all the occupants at the time to be under suspicion. There was however, a distinction being made with respect to one of the claimants who did not live at the premises, which we had pointed out that she did not live at the premises so that she in the first instance could not be caught under that provision and the learned trial judge at the end of the day ruled with us on that particular point. But what has to be said is what the learned trial judge pointed out, this should not and ought to be seen as an endorsement for the police officers, as she put it, to sit on the 4 walls of the law and just detain persons. You were in court and you would note and the learned trial judge pointed out as well that she did not want this to be seen as a victory for the police, because it cannot be regarded as a victory for the police where you have 5 persons being carted off to prison and having to be subjected to, in her own words, so very extreme and some very difficult conditions in prison."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, doesn't this in effect though cripple the abilities of police to properly handle criminals because these 2 young men, suspicious behavior ran into this house and hid a gun and the gun was found."
Anthony Sylvestre - Attorney for the Smith Family
"The thing about it is that and I think the learned trial judge as in court usually does tries to strike a balance been the administration of justice specifically relating to the police officers responsibility and duty to investigate and to also enforce the law and to detain those who are committing offenses. That on one hand and on the other hand, balancing the rights of citizen and that at times is a very difficult and the court certainly would have been in a very difficult and invidious position."
So to recap, the claims for malicious prosecution and unlawful detention from Alrick Smith Sr., Sandra Casey, Leon Smith, and Tamica Smith have been dismissed. The court ruled in the favor Ishaida (Ish- A-ida) Brooks for only on the claim of unlawful detention, and she was awarded $5,000. The court did not penalize the other claimants by ordering that they should pay court costs for this lawsuit.
The legal interpretation from the attorney for the claimants is that police officers cannot simply take the easy way out, lay criminal charges on a large group of people, and let the case resolve itself at the Magistrate's Court. They are expected to do some fact checking before making an informed decision to charge an entire group of defendants under the Firearms Act.
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