Gamboa et Al

• Jurisdiction: Belize
• Court: Supreme Court (Belize)
• Judge: Staine, J.
• Judgment Date: 04 May 1981
• Date: 04 May 1981

Supreme Court

Staine, J.

Gamboa et al

Mr. D.R.Lindo, S.C. for Vernon

Mr. G.C. Gandhi, for prosecution

Staine, J.

1 At the conclusion of the prosecution's case, counsel for the accused Ernest Vernon, Mr. D. R. Lindo, S. C., submitted on behalf of the accused Vernon that there was no case to answer on the charge of receiving. This is the only charge the accused faces on the indictment, whereas the other three accused face charges of housebreaking and aggravated theft. However, it appears from the evidence that the accused Vernon was at an earlier stage in the proceedings, himself also charged with housebreaking and aggravated theft, although the evidence surrounding this is none too clear. Nor is it clear at what stage the former charges were discontinued.

2 The submission is based on Regina v Attlee (1973) 58 CAR 348. This case is authority not only for the conditions which should be prudent before such a submission is made to the court, but it is also instructive in detail as to the procedure the court should adopt in dealing with such a submission.

3 The substance of senior counsel's arguments ran thus: In order to succeed on an indictment for receiving, the prosecution has to prove that the accused had possession of the goods he was charged with having received, and that in order to prove possession it was necessary to proceed beyond proof of a mere handling of the goods named. Mr. Lindo then proceeded to deal with the prosecution's evidence as it affected the accused Vernon. In the main, he submitted that in the words of Corporal Nicholas, a prosecution witness, it was at the invitation of the accused Vernon that the police entered his home around 3:00 a.m. - 4:00 a.m. on 30th September, 1980 and there police saw 8 bales of cloth, later to be identified as stolen goods. And I use the identified, in a generalized sense, without intending to convey the impression that the import of that expression was met in entirety.

4 Mr. Lindo continued that apart from the accused's evidence that it was he who invited the police to his house the accused drew the attention of the police to a man (Gamboa) who at that moment was attempting to make good his escape. It was Mr. Lindo's submission that the accused Vernon in so doing was drawing attention to the person who had brought the 8 bales of cloth which were found in the accused's sitting room and later identified by Jose Awad. If it was argued that this was...