And while the police were doing that in Orange Walk, the Barrow Administration was in the House of Representatives making an amendment to the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Amendment Bill to limit bail for border jumpers. Under the new law - which was passed by the House - border jumpers will now have to go to the Supreme Court for bail. The Prime Minister explained:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"One of the measures we seek to legislate today to try and control and deter the continuing incidents of the border jumpers, people complain that once you catch them you put them in quarantine of course and after they've come out of quarantine they are taken to court and charged. It seems almost routine and one perhaps understands that, that the magistrate then gives them bail, once they plead not guilty, and you know how long it takes thereafter for an actual trial to be concluded. Meantime a number of them go right back to doing what they got into trouble for in the first place, so we are seeking to deny them bail certainly at the magistrate's court level."
Email
Print