BELIZE CITY, Tues. June 11, 2019– British national Roger Wallis, on remand for two counts of attempted kidnapping, was denied bail a third time when he appeared before Justice Antoinette Moore on Friday, June 7.
Wallis’ attorney, Hurl Hamilton, reiterated the grounds for bail that had been outlined in the two previous bail applications — that Wallis has property in Belize, that he has applied for permanent residence and that he wants to make Belize his home.
Hamilton also stated that Wallis is a diabetic and that he is not a flight risk.
But Crown Counsel Portia Ferguson objected to bail and Justice Moore upheld the objection. Justice Moore said that a‘ preliminary inquiry was held on May 28 and Wallis’ case has been committed for trial in the October session of the Supreme Court.
She also said that the likelihood of Wallis absconding is high due to the gravity of the offences he is charged with, and the severity of the penalty if he is convicted.
In addition to that, Justice Moore said that the children in the case are witnesses and she is not mindful to grant Wallis bail at this time.
The charges against Wallis arose from an incident that occurred on September 24, 2018, in Belmopan. Three children, an 8-year-old boy and his two sisters, were heading home from school and while they were walking on a street, a Caucasian man drove up beside them in a white van and offered them a ride.
They said that they refused and the driver of the van made a u- turn and returned and grabbed the boy by the hand and attempted to force him into the van, but the boy’s sisters intervened and fought off the attempt, and the man shoved them to the ground and drove away.
Hamilton first applied for bail for Wallis in October 2018 before Justice Adolph Lucas, and Wallis was deemed a flight risk and was denied bail.
But Justice Lucas had ordered that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) conduct a preliminary inquiry so that Wallis could be indicted, otherwise Wallis would be able to reapply for bail.
That order was not complied with, and Hamilton made the reapplication for bail in December 2018 before Justice Marilyn Williams, who denied Wallis bail on the ground that he was deemed a flight risk.