BELMOPAN, Belize, NOV. 21, CMC – Two Jamaican nationals who were detained in Belize pleaded guilty on Wednesday to separate charges and were fined.
They are Devon Dean, 37 and Khario Fisher, 37.
Dean was charged with escaping custody and aggravated assault after he reportedly used a wooden chair to hit an immigration officer at a hotel on Monday after being denied entry.
He pleaded guilty to escaping custody after jumping through a window to purchase food and was fined US$800.
The aggravated assault charge was dropped after the attorney for the men, Norman Rodriguez, argued it was based on a nonexistent law.
After he paid his fine, Dean was again detained by the Belize Immigration department an hour after stepping out of court.
Dean was subsequently led away by an immigration officer.
He claimed that he was injured on the foot by an immigration officer after escaping custody.
His co-accused, Khario Fisher, was also fined US$300 or three months imprisonment.
The court heard that he harmed a security guard on duty at the hotel where he was detained.
Reid and Fisher arrived in Belize on October 24 among a group of seven people.
The men told immigration officers that they were in the country to visit relatives.
Only two people from the group were allowed entry.
CMC/bl/kb/2024