Salvadoran national allegedly molests 10 year old girl

Jose Cortez

There’s another disturbing case of child molestation to report tonight and the victim is a ten year old girl. Thirty-eight year old Salvadoran national, Jose Cortez, is celebrating his birthday behind bars after being charged this morning with Aggravated Assault of an Indecent Nature. Cortez was detained on Sunday following a report by the minor that he touched her inappropriately. His arraignment was dealt with “in camera” before Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb McKenzie. Cortez was unrepresented and pleaded not guilty to the charge. Prosecutor, Sergeant Egbert Castillo objected to bail because of the sensitivity of the case and Cortez was remanded to the Belize Central Prison until September eleventh. In another incident of sexual abuse, nine days ago, a nine year old boy from the Cayo District also reported to police that he had been sodomized by a seventeen year old minor at a farm. The abused child complained that the aggressor offered to pay him five dollars to take off his pants. When nine year old refused, he was pushed to the ground and sexually abused. The seventeen year old subsequently turned himself in and was charged.