Fruit vendor, 44, fined $500 for taking out knife in court Excellent!Very GoodGoodFairPoor Rating: (0 votes) Posted: 03/08/2007 - 12:20 PM Author: Roy Davis Fruit vendor Daniel Gilharry, 44, who pulled out a knife from his clothes during his hearing in Belize Family Court on Tuesday, July 31, pleaded guilty to a charge of disturbance when he appeared yesterday in the #3 Magistrate’s Court.   Gilharry, a father of four, pleaded for mitigation. He explained to the magistrate, Roberto Ordonez, that when he took out the knife in the Belize Family Court, it was not with the intention of attacking the magistrate, Natalia Carter, or anyone else.   Gilharry said he brought the knife to court to offer as exhibit, because it was the same knife his 32-year-old wife, the mother of his children, pulled on him during an incident at home.   After hearing Gilharry’s explanation and his plea for mitigation, Magistrate Ordonez fined him $500 and bound him over to keep the peace for one year. If Gilharry defaults on payment, he will serve six months.   Gilharry does not only have the court fine to pay. He also has to pay $700 per month for maintenance for his wife and children – $75 per week for her and $25 per week for each of his four children. He was ordered to pay the maintenance money by Magistrate Carter after he lost a civil suit on Tuesday, July 31. It was shortly after the pronouncement that he took out the knife in court.   Magistrate Carter also granted Gilharry’s wife a legal separation from him, and she has custody of the children.   Gilharry was able to take the knife into court with him because there are no metal detectors at the entrance to Belize Family Court, and apparently he was not adequately searched by the security guard who was on duty at the time.   Gilharry could have been cited for contempt. A charge of contempt empowers magistrates and judges to impose sentences without an actual trial.