A Belize City man who appeared in court on charges for drugs and weapons was given non-custodial sentences in the Belize Magistrate's Court today but still ended up in prison because he could not pay his fines.
Forty-three-year-old Orin Stanley Arnold, who has been arrested and charged for drug trafficking on two separate occasions and won his cases, was back in the Belize Magistrate's Court today on a third count of the same offense.
Sydney Gordon
A Hattieville couple is in debt to the court in the sum of $20,000 which they accumulated when they appeared in the Belize Magistrate’s Court on a charge of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply. Shawn Bainton, a 37-year-old construction worker, and Sydney Gordon, a 34-year-old hairdresser, appeared unrepresented before Magistrate Stephanie Gillett. To the charge, Gordon had initially pleaded guilty saying that she used the marijuana to cope with her asthma. The prosecutor, however, indicated that while Gordon pleaded guilty, it would not be automatic that the charge be withdrawn from Bainton. He was found with $1,395 along with drugs which would still be confiscated. Bainton became irate, saying that the funds were not from the sale of drugs but instead monies that his mother had sent for him for the construction of a home. That is when he also pleaded guilty to the charge.