Racquel Gomez
On July seventeenth, a Crooked Tree woman was sentenced to three years and a ten thousand dollar fine for one point two grams of crack found on her. She was given until November to pay the fine, in default of which she would serve another three years. With that done, she was taken away to Belize Central Prison to begin serving hard time. But tonight Gomez is at home with her family after she was granted bail today. Attorney Audrey Matura-Shepherd told us why today is a happy day for Racquel Gomez.
Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Attorney for Racquel Gomez
“Miss Racquel Elizabeth Gomez and her family approached me to represent her because I guess many people read the headlines that said that she got six years for crack, and it’s really a sad story. So I went and I met with her at the prison and we subsequently appealed the decision of the Magistrate and then we also applied for a stay of execution of the decision – that is, the three year imprisonment, and in that process we applied for bail. There was a hearing this morning in court number eight before magistrate Gillett, and she considered our application – she had to consider whether she would grant the stay, and she did. She had to consider whether it was proper to put Miss Gomez on bail, and she considered that it was proper. She interviewed her and Miss Gomez explained to her all that she has been going through at the prison and one of the things is that she has some serious health problems and it does not benefit anyone to keep her there when she has an appeal, and an appeal that she is likely to win but of course we’ll go through all the legal arguments, so nobody was happier today than Miss Gomez.”
Gomez pleaded guilty to the charge of drug trafficking on July seventeenth, but was unrepresented in court.