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Our news team was at court before hearings started, until the moment when the couple were freed. Daniel Ortiz reports:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
After successfully convincing Justice Hanomansingh to grant them bail, David and Anke Doehm were escorted out of the Supreme Court to be processed for their release. They had been incarcerated for 15 days, and as soon as they could leave, they jumped into a vehicle which moved off with haste.

The couple was definitely trying to avoid small but boisterous crowd of protesters in Battlefield Park. For the entire 2 and a half hours of the court hearing, this small but spirited crowd shouted at the top of their lungs.

Michelle Huber - San Pedro Resident
"We are here for one thing: Justice for Faye and I pray to the Lord to lay his hands on this nation, because this has been too many murders."

Karen Banner - Orange Walk Resident
"I am tired of seeing my youths murdered on the streets of Belize City. I am tired of seeing mothers cry. I am tired of seeing single parents with no assistance. We are asking for justice. We will not be quite. I will not be quite. We are tired. All we are asking for is Justice for Faye, justice for Pastor Lucas and there are many more, there are many more murders that has not been solve and we want justice."

Jose UC Espat - Belize City Activist
"It hurts to see people murdered. It hurts that no one comes and stands for the right thing. But when there are concerts there are people by the thousands. We need to focus on this entire nation and put a stop to this. Enough is enough. When will enough be enough Belize?"

Golda Swift - San Pedro Resident
"There is dead child on our hands, there is blood on our hands. As a Belizean citizen and as an educator for over 20 years I have to say we need to stand up. We cannot let these things happen in our country, especially to children and let it go by."

Kera Garbutt - Ladyville
"I don't live in San Pedro, I am from Ladyville, but when I heard the news about what happened to baby Faye, it touches me deep, because I have a little girl that is 15 years old. If it was me and if I had a man and they (the police) came to my house to find my 13 year old daughter dead, we definitely would have gotten charge for murder the same day. We would have been spending our time in jail until our case comes up to prove that it's not us who kill the person. At the end of the day we don't want them to get bail."

The DPP's Office made a strong effort to object to the couple being released on bail, because from the prosecution's perspective, they are a flight risk. Crown Counsel Jacqueline Willoughby tried to convince the Justice Hanomansingh of this, but after considering the lengthy arguments from both sides, the judge did not agree.

Jacqueline Willoughby - Crown Counsel
"It is the position our office that they have become a flight risks. One of the issues is you have to be able to take care of yourself in Belize. Their business is down. One of the petitioners have been release of his employment. They really have no other means here. They have no property. The issue of the children are in human services. There is matters before other courts that custody is being sought by the adopted father. It is our view in our office that there is really no reason for them to stay here. This charge will yield them prison time of up to 10 years. But at the end of the day, it is in the discretion of the judge to determine whether or not he would give bail."

Daniel Ortiz
"Are you satisfied with the positions you made trying to counter the arguments from the defense attorneys?"

Jacqueline Willoughby - Crown Counsel
"That is their right, they are defending their client and it is our right to defend what we defend for the state."

So, what considerations did the judge weigh, which led him to rule in the couple's favor?

Richard "Dickie" Bradley - Attorney for David Doehm
"It has been the law in this country before I went to law school, which is a long, long time ago, that bail is a right, it is not a privilege. Nobody is doing you any favor to give you your freedom which is guaranteed in the constitution of Belize section 5, subsection 5. The second thing is the law is and I really want to emphasize this, that bail is not to be use to punish a person before a trial is held. Those are two very fundamental legal principles."

"It is all too easy to be denying persons their liberty which as many judges have observed creates major problems."

"At the magistrate court, I was the first to concede that a charge of cruelty to a child is a very serious charge, because all of us as adults and I am a parent, we must look after our children and even hold ourselves responsible for our neighbor's children. That is not a ground to lock up somebody in prison until 2019 when the trial may take place. That can't be fair. I understand the persons who are protesting. We feel for whatever the child may have suffered at the hands of these persons and if one of the Doehms or both of the Doehms are guilty of the allegation against them, I am the first to say let me rot in prison, but we cannot go the route of that Clint Eastwood movie "Hang Em High" by punishing people when there is only an allegation."

"In the meantime we, all of us need to hold to the sacred principle that when you are accused and you are not a flight risk and you are not going to interfere with witnesses, then you have a right to your freedom, because your freedom is guaranteed in the constitution of Belize."

But, there have been defendants who have been granted bail, and even with very restrictive conditions to their release, those defendants still managed to flee the country and criminal prosecution. The concern is that the Doehms will add to that list of fugitives who skipped bail and ran.

Richard "Dickie" Bradley
"You can't punish if somebody didn't live up to their conditions. You can't look at all persons and bring up 'you remember that time they give a boy bail and he went and didn't come back' and then you will use that to punish me. That is not how the justice system work. Each case is on its own merits. If you do not turn up your fugitive from justice you have to hide the rest of your life until you are caught. In this particular case you will see that in fact the judge went extra steps to protect the system, in the sense that now the American Embassy, the mighty United States of America through their embassy is to make sure they don't go to America or Canada or anywhere through any facilitation from them. Where are they going to go? If they go to the States, they will bring them back. How will you reach the States if you don't have a passport? What sometimes happens I should say to you, because I do know, what does happens sometime an American citizen says nothing to his embassy, claims to have misplace or lost the passport and they give him a temporary travel document. The judge has covered up that loophole. No system is full proof, but remember the principle that the judge is there to uphold the liberty of a person."

While exiting from the hearings, media workers tried to put questions to the two accused.

Reporter
"And do you missed her (Faye)?"

Anke Doehm
"Yes."

So, as we told you, the Justice Hanomansingh granted them bail of $10,000 each. He gave them a long list of conditions by which they must abide, or else bail will be revoked.

Most importantly, they are not allowed to leave the country until the criminal case against them is concluded.

There is also the specific conditions that they must hand over their travel documents to the US Embassy to be retained until the charge of cruelty to a child is concluded.

Also, they must report to the Queen Street Police Station every Monday, and they must attend every adjournment of the case against them.

While the judge was trying to find out which police station they must report to, the attorneys told the court that it is best that they report to the Queen Street Police Station, because the couple has moved out of San Pedro Town.

We are told that only Anke Doehm managed to meet bail through a bail bondsman this evening, and it is expected that her husband, David, will do so on Monday.