Murder Charges to be Brought Against SOE Detainees

As many as forty-five young men will remain in custody at the Belize Central Prison once the police department has successfully corralled them.  Several of them, including David Sutherland and Akeem Augustus will be charged for capital offenses.  According to Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, surveillance footage gathered from the area where James Escarpeta was fatally shot will prove useful in arresting the culprit in that murder.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“Some of them that we have detained will be charged for murder.  As a matter of fact, I just got an update from CIB that we have just charged someone in respect of the murder of Nicholi Rhys and we have also located Akeem Augustus who is wanted for the attempted murder in Hattieville, that of the guy Lewis, and he, too, will be charged sometime today in respect of the Lewis shooting.  The murder we had on West Street two nights ago, we have good video footage from the police camera system, picking up that murder and so we know who the suspect is.  Ms. Hortence will be issuing the wanted poster for that person today and we’ll seek the public’s assistance in locating him.  So once he’s found, again, based on our CCTV camera system, we will be able to arrest and charge that individual for the murder of Escarpeta.  So, like the minister said, most of the murders we are having, we are making success in terms of detecting them and with what we have, we think that we can successfully prosecute them eventually, down the road.”