Sugar thieves go back to court

Alex O’Brien

Three men who were accused of stealing one hundred and twenty-five tons of brown sugar from B.S.I. back in April 2012 were today committed to stand trial at the September session of the Supreme Court.  The men had their original bail revoked and were offered a new bail of twenty-thousand dollars each plus one surety of the same amount…which they were able to meet. The trio includes Alex O’Brien, his father, Oscar Mena, and their friend, Ernel Brooks.  All three were charged jointly with Theft. During a Preliminary Inquiry before the Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer, all three challenged the police evidence. Mena described it as a pack of rubbish, while O’Brien said they had been wrongfully accused. Brooks said he was not the man in the picture presented to the court.

Oscar Mena

But Frazer told the trio that there is sufficient evidence to commit their case to the Supreme Court. The prosecutor in the case was Corporal Kenard Clark, who is relying heavily on ten statements linking the men to the theft.   According to thirty-nine year old Chief of Security, Linberth Seguro, who is employed with the Belize Sugar Industry Storage Division, between the months of April and July of 2012, approximately one hundred and twenty-nine tons of sugar, valued at one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, were stolen from barges docked at Drown Caye. Police later found half a sack of brown sugar along with empty sugar sacks at Mena’s house. The men have also been charged with Handling Stolen Goods for dishonestly assisting in the retention of sixty-five pounds of brown sugar.