…While Belize City man receives 10 for rape attempt

In the Supreme Court today, a naked intruder was convicted and sentenced to spend the next ten years behind bars. It took the jury less than forty-five minutes to convict thirty-one year old Steven Castillo of aggravated burglary, attempted rape, and harm. Chief Justice Conteh told the defendant: “You are found guilty of a serious offence; you broke into a lady’s house around four a.m. and tried to ravish her. In any society, the court takes a serious view of this sort of thing. For the Grace of God you did not carry it out.” Conteh then sentenced Castillo to ten years for aggravated burglary, eight years for attempted rape, and one year for harm. The sentences will run concurrently. The nineteen year old victim testified in court that on October twenty-fourth 2004, she woke up to find a naked Castillo standing over her with a knife. The young woman managed to escape and enlist the help of a passing police patrol and Castillo was later arrested and charged with the offence.