Jail threat causes woman to faint in court
Posted: 08/04/2009 - 10:27 AM
Author: Rowland A. Parks
An entire Belize City family, the Canto family, ran afoul of the strict amendment to the Firearms Act, and a father and his son are behind bars, and the man’s wife almost ended there, too, if it were not for a medical condition that caused the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to withdraw the two charges against her.
The gun laws of Belize have gone through various amendments over the years as gun crimes in Belize have been escalating at a frightening pace. Legislators have taken a much more serious attitude towards the proliferation of handguns and the most recent amendment to the Firearms Act has even taken away the jurisdiction of granting bail at the magistrate’s court level.
Anyone found with a firearm or ammunition is automatically remanded to prison for three months, unless they apply for a bail petition before the Supreme Court through an attorney.
When police searched the home of Mario Canto, 49, Lavonia Canto, 53 and Jason Canto, 26, on Wednesday, April 1, they discovered an unlicensed 9mm handgun, along with a .38 revolver and one hundred and twelve .38 rounds, five of which were inside the chamber of the firearm.
The Cantos were arrested and taken to the Magistrate’s Court, where they appeared before Magistrate Ed Usher today, Tuesday, April 7.
When Lavonia Canto realized that she might go to jail, she fainted in court and had to be taken to the Belize Medical Associates Hospital.
But their attorney, Michael Peyrefitte, argued that the provision of the amendment to the Firearms Act is “draconian in nature.” He did extensive research for his submission to Magistrate Usher, why bail should be granted to the Canto family.
Usher told the court that the Amendment #6 aims to strengthen the law as it relates to firearms and ammunition. “The court can only act on the law. No one can get bail. If, indeed, I could have given bail, I would.”
Usher pointed out that the amendment to the law means that once you are charged with an offence against the Firearms Amendment Act, you cannot get bail.
With that, the Magistrate remanded the father and son to the Hattieville Prison until their next court appearance on May 7, 2009.
In the afternoon session of the court, Mrs. Canto was brought back to court and the charges against her were withdrawn upon the instruction of the DPP.
Since Mario, the older Canto, is claiming responsibility for the 9mm gun, tomorrow, it is expected that his son, Jason, will be brought back to the court, where the charge of possession of that unlicensed gun will be withdrawn against him.
But Jason is still not out of the woods yet, because although he has a license for the .38 handgun, he had in his possession more ammunition than what is prescribed in the condition of his license.
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