Mon. Oct. 29, 2007
The Editor, Amandala
Sir,
Before I begin, let me say I fully support the boycott of his business, Mirab, and not one penny of mine will be spent there until justice is served.
In defence of Chay Ben Bou Nahra – “If I did it”
But I will also say this. First of all, if someone attempts to rob me using the threat of bodily harm, and I should be able to lay hands on a weapon to defend myself, I don’t know what demon may grab hold of me, even if the person is thus overpowered. Would I then experience a fit of angry insanity and take the life of a man who is running away? It’s hard to think that I would do that, but if I did, then I would be wrong, guilty of an offence, and deserving of punishment, however leniently the courts may decide to treat me, because of my previous clean record, the circumstances, and my particular state of mind at that moment.
Secondly, in our system of justice, a man is considered innocent until proven guilty. If I say I did it, but with good cause, justifiable cause, in a moment of provocation, insanity, or whatever, the courts should decide to what extent I should be punished. There is an old saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it.” Intent, in all areas of the law, even in football, intent is a very important factor. If I will speak the truth, then the court will decide the punishment. If I will lie, and be found to be lying, the court will be less lenient. The courts will decide, by a jury of citizens; my peers?
Thirdly, it is the right of every accused person to seek legal counsel, the best he can afford. So, I can afford the best defence lawyers in Belize. I have said nothing since. I have not perverted any system; at least no one knows anything like that. It’s all up to my lawyers to defend me in the best way they can, under the law. Did they willfully do something underhanded or illegal in collusion with certain “witnesses for the prosecution”? I don’t know. That’s their business. I pay them to defend me.
Why did I leave the country when I did? My lawyers are in tune with everything I have done, and they have informed the court, with a plea for understanding. I certainly didn’t intend to try and flee from justice. I didn’t do anything illegal there; at least my lawyers didn’t tell me so. I am back, and that proves it. I was ready to accept whatever the justice system determined, and I sincerely believed that the court should be kind to me, a respectable businessman, frightened in a society where violent crime has become commonplace, and may have overreacted in a situation where I felt threatened. I still hoped to gain an acquittal on a plea of “self defence,” or at least leniency in the area of provocation and state of mind.
What happened with the police officers? I don’t know. I don’t know if my lawyers know. I would have preferred to be set free by the jury in a case where the public would understand, but it is not my fault what happened with the police witnesses.
Folks, I am trying hard to be the “devil’s advocate” in this case, as Bou Nahra defence attorney Dickie Bradley liked to do when he was a Radio KREM talk show host a decade or more ago.
The purpose of my following this train of thought? First of all, “There is some good in the worst of us, and some bad in the best of us.” Whatever may have been his faults, could Mr. Bou Nahra’s greatest fault, or luck, depending on how you look at it, has been that he was the personal friend of the esteemed Minister of Police? It would seem, in our system today, that a friend of the Minister of Police, becomes, in a way, the friend of the Commissioner of Police, and also of certain Superintendents of Police, one of whom publicly announced that he knows Mr. Bou Nahra very well from before the incident, and can certainly identify him anytime.
I am sincerely worried about the fate of the lower ranked police officers who have implicated themselves in this matter, especially one who is reportedly “missing.” Are they really bad ones who have left a track record of abuse and corruption behind them? Or are they otherwise decent ones who wilted under temptation or intimidation, or both, to do what they did? It seems many wheels have been turning these past two years toward one objective – the release of Mr. Bou Nahra. It would indeed be gratifying if as many wheels in the Police Department could be made to spin in the direction of finding the kidnappers of Mr. Derek Aikman, and the people responsible for the many violent acts against prominent voices against corruption in Belize.
Every man on this earth cherishes his freedom and will strive for it. At the end of the day, who is to blame more when the justice system is perverted to make a guilty man walk – the accused in the prisoner’s dock or the friend that “cuts him loose”?
Sincerely,
Charles X