Shopkeeper charged with carnal knowledge

A Belize City shopkeeper has been charged with carnal knowledge and aggravated assault after reports that he had sex with a twelve-year-old girl. Tereso Hernandez, age seventy-five, was picked up after the girl’s mother told police that she became concerned when her daughter started coming home late from school and had money she could not account for. The girl told police that on March first she went to Hernandez’s shop on East Canal to buy candy and Hernandez invited her into the back of the shop and had sex with her. The child alleges he then gave her five dollars. She says she went back repeatedly over the past month. A medical examination determined she had been carnally known and the medical officer certified injuries to the child as grievous harm.