On Wednesday night, we told you about 30 year-old Nelson Henry. He's the accused murderer who has been remanded for 5 years waiting for a Supreme Court trial. Well tonight, he's out, and he's becomes the 4th person in Belize's judicial history to be released on bail while still facing a murder charge.
As we told you main witness, former police officer Catherine Perteau refused to cooperate with the prosecution. That caused trial delays, which Henry's attorney, Oscar Selgado seized upon. He made an application to Justice Adolph Lucas that Henry should get bail because his constitutional right to fair trial within a reasonable time had been breached.
After considering his application, Justice Lucas came back today and issued a surprising decision. He granted Henry bail of $25,000 with the conditions that he must not interfere with the prosecution's witness, and with a curfew. So, the accused killer gets to go home for the first time since July of 2011, when he was first arrested and charged for the murder of Edward Lord Jr.
This morning, Selgado told us that this decision is important because it sets a precedent for those who've been sitting in jail for years awaiting trial. Here's how he explained it:
Oscar Selgado, Attorney for Nelson Henry
"My arguments for bail were sustained on two grounds; constitutional grounds. Firstly, under section 55 of the Belize Constitution, he is entitled to bail. Section 5 says that where a person is charged criminally and he is not afforded a fair trial within a reasonable time, he is to be released on bail on conditions that are deemed for by the court and section 5 does not limit what offences are bailable and not bailable. Section 5 is open to all offences in Belize including murder. But I relied also on section 6.2 of the Belize Constitution which provides that when a person is charged with any offence in Belize, he is to be afforded a fair trial by an impartial and independent court establish by law within a reasonable time and the time that is considered reasonable would be from the date of arrest."
"So in this instance Nelson Henry was arrested and charged on the 6th July, 2011 and he was not indicted until 2013 - two years afterwards and that is unacceptable. That is an inordinate delay. In this case Nelson Henry did not go before the Supreme Court until after 2014 and the court had been making adjournments since. In June of this year the matter came up for trial and on several occasions I think only twice has the main witness for the crown appeared to testify and on both occasions she either remained mute or barely made comments to the fact that she did not remember or she cannot recall what her evidence was to the police on her deposition and so she became sort of hostile and this then put the prosecution in position of uncertainty as to when the case would be able to proceed. This again is a breach of the constitutional guarantee to a fair trial within a reasonable time and then there is another case which is Vishno Bridghal against Hardat Harry Prashad coming out of the Caribbean Court of Justice as well. This is in May 2017, delivered on the 4th May this year, repeating the same thing that our Caribbean territories have now been entrenched in a conduct of delay. Inordinate delay that it has become acceptable in the courts that delays are usual and common place and the court says that this practice is intolerable. That this practice must cease an apex court such as the Caribbean court of justice put in place decisions to stop this practice."
"The Hon. Justice Lucas say it fit and held that in fact Henry's right to a fair trial was breach and that his right to bail with reasonable conditions is to be upheld because of that breach of right to a fair trial and so he offered bail on several conditions. One of them is that the bail must be secured by a guarantor with $25,000 which is either by cash or the deposit of land title and on several other normal conditions that he is to report to the police station and that he is to keep at home during the hours of 8pm to 6am - that he is not to interfere with any of the prosecution's witnesses."
But, does granting bail to a man accused of murder not increase the risk of witness tampering and intimidation? Here's how Selgado answered that one:
Oscar Selgado, Attorney for Nelson Henry
"It is a step forward that the court today has demonstrated that the administration of justice is netted out without fair or favor and that henceforth all other people held incarcerated at KOLBY for murder and inordinately delayed in their trial, will be entitled to bail and this case sets the precedence in Belize for that, so that it is one of the landmark cases now where bail is granted to persons accused of murder."
Daniel Ortiz, reporter
"There is that concern that for a serious offence such as this, since the precedence has been set, that prosecution witnesses maybe at endanger, because we have a culture in Belize where intimidation happens."
Oscar Selgado, Attorney for Nelson Henry
"The courts are very cognizant of such reality and that is why the court impose conditions that the petitioner should not affair with any of the prosecutions witnesses or potential witnesses either by themselves or through a third party or through any electronic means; WhatsApp, Facebook, twitter - in any manner and once it is proved that petitioner breaches any of those conditions, bail is liable to be revoked - bail will be revoked by the supreme court once those conditions are prove to have been breached."
As we told you Henry becomes the 4th accused murderer to be granted bail. In 1977, an elderly blind man, 74 year-old Hubert Neal got bail. He was on remand for killing his son.
In 2006, Police Constable Jesus Marroquin was granted bail while awaiting trial for the murder for the murder of Egbert Arnold.
And then in 2012, 81 year-old Manuel Teck Cucul, who was charged with the murder of his wife, was granted bail.
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