The Department of the Environment is charging Zabaneh and Primrose Gabourel for filling a lot in the sea without proper permission

BELIZE CITY, Wed. Jan. 30, 2019– The filling of lot #4760, located on Seashore Drive in the Buttonwood Bay area of Belize City, has been a source of contention between the owners and the Department of the Environment (DOE). The land is actually seabed, and although the DOE made efforts to stop the owners from filling it, they had not been able to halt the filling that had been taking place.

This morning, the DOE hauled Dion Zabaneh, 43, a businessman of 68 Bella Vista, and his mother, Primrose Gabourel, 76, a housewife of 919 Bella Vista,  to court, where they were arraigned on a total of four charges. There were two other charges that the DOE wanted to bring against the two, but they could not lay those charges against Gabourel and Zabaneh, because the summons had not been served to them.

Zabaneh and Gabourel “lawyered-up,” and there was a showdown between their attorney, Emil Arguelles, and the DOE prosecutor, Jeavon Hulse, in the courtroom of Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford.

Before the charges were read, however, the DOE prosecutor put Marco Escalante on the witness stand in an attempt to convince the court that the DOE had difficulties in serving a summons to Zabaneh, who, according to the testimony of Escalante, an environmental technician, was aggressive and threatened him and the police officers who were with him. This incident occurred on Saturday, January 19.

Escalante told the court that the DOE enforcement notice that he attempted to serve on Zabaneh could not be served, because Zabaneh refused to accept it.

Escalante explained that Zabaneh reached a level where he even hit the driver’s side of the vehicle in which he, Escalante, had been sitting.

“He threatened us and told us to move ourselves from the land,” Escalante told the court.

Zabaneh and Gabourel’s attorney allowed Magistrate Ford to read the four charges that the DOE had assessed one or both of the two persons with.

Zabaneh and Gabourel were charged with filling the seabed without signing an environmental compliance with the DOE.

They were also charged with failure to comply with a DOE enforcement notice, issued on January 18.

Zabaneh alone was charged with assault and obstructing or hindering a DOE officer in the execution of his duty.

Finally, the two were charged with failure to comply with an enforcement order to remove all material illegally dumped on parcel #4670.

Magistrate Ford said she would therefore not read the two charges, because they had not been lodged as yet.

After the charges were read, Argüelles made a submission, telling the court that under the Environmental Protection Act, permission must be obtained from the Department or the Director of Public Prosecution to charge persons under the Act.

Arguelles also focused his submission on the Information and Complaint which was signed by a Justice of the Peace. He told the court that under the Summary Jurisdiction Act, a magistrate is required to sign the summons.
The matter, therefore, was not regular before the court, he submitted.

Arguelles then explained that the offense was allegedly committed in the Belize judicial district, but the Justice of the Peace who signed the paper is in Belmopan, and he/she should be in the jurisdiction where the offense occurred.

“There is no seal of the Magistrate’s Court as summons are required to have,” Arguelles submitted.

Arguelles also pointed out to the court that under section 59 of the Environmental Act, the limitation period is two years after the commission of the offense. The DOE environmental notice is dated October 2006, Arguelles said, because the matter was the subject of a Supreme Court action involving the Ministry of Natural Resources and Gabourel.

Arguelles referred to Action number 531 of 2006 Medina v. Primrose Gabourel and the Ministry of Natural Resources. The case involved all the same players, Arguelles told the court, and at no time did the DOE apply for an injunction, as they could have, as they should have.

“Primrose Gabourel waited for 13 years for the matter to be litigated in her favor in 2016. The Supreme Court ordered then that the injunction to stop the filling be lifted, and as the order clearly states, non-appearance from the Ministry of Natural Resources to apply for a new injunction,” Arguelles submitted.

Arguelles said that his clients continued filling on the clear understanding that the Supreme Court order was lifted against them.

Arguelles asked the court to withdraw the charges, because they were not properly before the court.

The DOE prosecutor responded to Arguelles’ submission by stating, “It is a matter of form over substance, and some of these can be remedied. I think the case is a very complex one, because it involves various players, and it includes the Ministry of Natural Resources and the DOE.”

In his response to the DOE prosecutor, Arguelles told the court, “For you to proceed on a matter that is not properly before the court is a travesty of justice.”

Magistrate Ford adjourned the matter to February 6, when she will rule on the submissions.