For the past week, Americans David and Anke Doehm have been on remand at the Belize Central Prison. They're trying to get Supreme Court bail after after being charged with the offense of "cruelty to a child", for the death of their 13 year-old adopted daughter, Faye Lin Cannon.
Tomorrow morning, they'll get their opportunity before a Supreme Court judge, and their attorneys will attempt to convince the judge why they should be released from prison while they await trial. And while that will be happening inside the courtroom, outside, residents of San Pedro will be gathered in protest to send a strong statement that they would rather they remain in prison.
San Pedro resident Jorge Aldana went to the Belize City police station to get a permit to protest, but it was denied. So, instead, they will picket, and as long as they do not stop in and block the traffic, they will be well within the law to do so.
This evening, Aldana told us why the San Pedro residents will come out, even though they don't have a permit to protest. Here's what he had to say:
Jorge Aldana - San Pedro Resident
"The people of San Pedro, few residents some of the residents of San Pedro and some of Belize had approached me to come in and apply for permission to protest tomorrow in front of the supreme court right across from Battlefield Park. We walked in with Mr. Elrington this evening and the officer command Eastern Division has used the law to deny us the application to protest. She cited that we needed 36 hours for us to apply for the permission to protest. So she used that portion of the law to deny us that application. They are still coming out, my understanding is about the group that has been mobilized is still coming out tomorrow. I managed to sit down with Mrs. Desiree Phillips and we went over what is expected. I told her that the group decided that if the application is the denied then we will use our second constitutional right which is to picket. The purpose of this protest is to show the public and to indicate to the legislative and the other responsible bodies in the country that we will keep a watchful eye when it comes to the Faye Lin case. I think the Faye Lin, the system failed and the community failed Faye Lin. We cannot allow the system to fail her once again. I believe and the crowd believe as a matter of fact the residents and the people outside of San Pedro believed that if bail is granted to Faye Lin's adopted parents who are in custody they are a high risk than they may abscond. We have seen this over and over in other cases in Belize."
We'll be there tomorrow, and we'll tell you how the bail hearing goes for the Doehms.
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