So, he won't hear anything from Mason, but would the PM listen to evidence brought to him by his old friend Superintendent Mark Flowers? He has that option now because Flowers is out on bail tonight.
He was arraigned on 2 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse against a 14 year-old minor on Wednesday. Before he handed himself into police, he made the media rounds to rant against National Security Minister, accusing him of inducing the family of minor to make a malicious complaint against him. He also suggested that Saldivar meddled in Police business and got him removed as the head of the GSU, all out of personal malice.
Saldivar has categorically denied all allegations, dismissing Flowers as a desperate man who will do and say anything to try to shift blame from himself. It had been rumoured all of yesterday that while he was at the Belize Central Prison, Flowers made contact with William "Danny" Mason, who supposedly gave him certain information, which he would be disclosing, specifically pointing to Mason's relationship with John Saldivar.
So, we showed up to court today to see just how it would all play out and Daniel Ortiz reports:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
After spending three nights in Prison, Superintendent Mark Flowers strutted toward the courtroom of Justice Adolph Lucas Sr. Except for the police escort beside him, you'd never know that he was still in police custody.
He walked past the press, smiling and greeting everyone he met, as though confident that he would be successful in getting bail.
His attorney, Dickie Bradley, went into the courtroom and about 2 hours later, he was successful in convincing Justice Lucas that Flowers should be admitted to bail.
Dickie Bradley - Attorney for Mark Flowers
"Mark Flowers appeared in front of Justice Adolph Lucas on his petition which was an urgent petition which was filing juts this week and in relation to the two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, he was granted a bail which is a bit high of $7,500 stipulated to be a land paper. so I might have to go and check with Mr. William Mason if there is any land paper knocking around, but the conditions of the bail are the usual conditions, except you would have heard the crown council, Shanice Flowers, from the DPP's office saying to his lordship that she would want to respectfully request the court to instruct as part of the conditions for bail that Mr. Flowers does not in any way of through any other person, interfere or communicate with the complainant in the matter. His lordship asked the media not to mention the name of the minor which of course would be against the law and I would have to apply for bail for any of you who did that. So Mark Flowers is going to be free in another few minutes and then that drama over his life in this phase hopefully is over. He had agreed to give Love FM an interview but that is entirely up to him in relation to what has transpired."
The judge has ordered that Mason must report to the San Ignacio Police Station once every week. He must attend all adjournments for his criminal case, until the matter is disposed of, and he must not interfere with the prosecution's witnesses. Of important note is that Justice Adolph Lucas gave Flowers advice that he ought to consider not making any more public comments on his suspicions that the family of his accuser was induced. He pointed Flowers to the fact that by virtue of his counter accusations, it could cause the family to be shunned and treated unfairly. He also advised Flowers to ensure that he can prove all the allegations he has made because the persons he has accused can sue him for slander.
All indications are that Flowers intends to follow the judge's advice. He did indicate to us that he would be willing to grant another interview on a different matter, which we'll tell you about on Monday's newscast. He promised to stop by our studio after his bail was finalized but up until news time, he had not.
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