7 News Belize

Accused Drug Trafficker Freed of Charge for Now
posted (June 11, 2019)
Back in January of last year, it was big news out of the north when police arrested and charged 42 year-old Robert Gentle with drug trafficking after they accused him of allegedly attempting to cross the border in a vehicle that had over 6 kilos of cocaine hidden in a white Lincoln Navigator SUV.

Well, the Ranchito Village resident walked out of Corozal Magistrate's Court a free man yesterday. Court reports say that The prosecutor told Magistrate Lionel Olivera that in the interest of justice, they would not proceed with the charge at this time. The prosecutor also added that police and the crown reserved the right to bring charges against Gentle at a later date, should more evidence come to light.

Gentle's defense attorney, Leslie Hamilton pointed out at the last adjournment of the case last week, the prosecution requested an adjournment to yesterday's date because their main witness allegedly had some emergency. Hamilton raised concern in the hearing yesterday that if the state attempted to proceed against her client, it would be an abuse of process. The Magistrate heard both sides and agreed that if the charges are reinstated, it would require that they test if it is indeed an abuse of process. He then dismissed the charge and allowed Gentle to go free.

Our colleagues from CTV 3 News spoke with DDP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, and she told them that her office had no influence on the police prosecution's decision to withdraw the charge.

As we told you, police accused Gentle of being the driver of this Navigator, and that he was attempting to cross into Mexico on December 13th, 2017. While the vehicle was passing through the Mexican customs, their x-ray apparatus alerted the officials of the suspicious packages. The driver realized that he had been caught, and so, he spun the vehicle back in the direction of Belize. He sped off, and upon entering Belize's Border, he crashed the vehicle into the barrier at the Customs area. The driver then ran off, leaving the vehicle and the cocaine, which was found under the dashboard.

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