San Pedranos Say No Bail for David and Anke Doehm

David & Anke Doehm

David and Anke Doehm are scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court this Friday for a bail hearing. The duo is spending time at the central prison in Hattieville having been charged with “Cruelty to a Child” in respect of the death of their adopted daughter Faye Lin Cannon. The girl was found lifeless inside their apartment in San Pedro and a post mortem reveals she died due to compression to the chest. There were also signs of physical and sexual abuse. The death, which is being investigated as a murder, has shocked the nation and stirred outrage on the island where residents believe that a broken system failed Faye Lin. So this Friday, residents of the island will be converging in Belize City; they planned to protest, but authorities put a wrench in their plans and have denied a permit. Still yet, organizers tell News Five that they will continue with their plans and act within in the law.

Jorge Aldana

Jorge Aldana, San Pedro Resident

“I think the people of San Pedro want to exercise their right to protest. They’re protesting in support of the Cannon child who was killed, murdered as police are saying. And so a group of San Pedranos are coming together, islanders, and they are inviting people from Belize to go out in solidarity. Faye Lin’s death was something that provoked a lot of feelings in San Pedro and I think it is fresh in the people’s mind—not only in San Pedro, but the entire country. I think that is fresh in the people’s minds and we know that there is an application before the Supreme Court for bail that will be heard tomorrow and groups are being mobilized not only from San Pedro but from within Belize and other parts of the country to come and support Faye Lin. I think the system failed Faye; I think the community and the country failed Faye. And this is an opportunity to make that wrong a right and what better way to do it than to tell the court, to tell our judiciary system that we are against any bail application.”

Aldana says that the protest is to prevent the system from failing Faye Lin twice. He believes that, as in the cases of Mexican American national David Nanes Schnitzer and Mexican national Zurisaday Villasenor Mendez, after being granted bail, the foreign nationals fled the country.