Arrests made in several police cases

In news from the crime beat, police have made arrests in at least three recent cases. Tonight, a thirty-four year old Corozal woman is behind bars, charged with abetment to commit abduction…of her sister. On Friday, the accused’s sister reported to police that she was at the Corozal market when her sibling called her over to a nearby vehicle. But when she approached the van, the woman claims she was grabbed, gagged, and driven to Xaibe Village where she was raped by five men. To protect the identity of the victim, the name of the charged Corozaleña is being withheld by police. None of the alleged rapists have been detained.

In another case of sexual aggression, a taxi driver from the Cayo District has been charged with rape and indecent assault. He is thirty-four year old Sostenes Reynoso, a resident of the Santa Cruz area of Santa Elena. Reynoso stands accused of attacking a fifteen-year-old student on a deserted road after the girl hired him to take her home from school.

Meanwhile, the driver involved in a traffic accident on Monday evening on the Northern Highway has been charged. Twenty-three year old Mario Cabanas of Concepcion Village told police that just after five p.m., he was driving toward Orange Walk town, when between miles eighty-three and eighty-four a cyclist swerved into his lane and he could not avoid a collision. The victim, identified as sixty-six year old Jose Pantin of San Victor Village, has since been admitted to ward at the K.H.M.H. in serious but stable condition, receiving treatment for head and body injuries. Mario Cabanas will now have to answer to the crimes of negligent grievous harm and driving without due care and attention.