Female Inmate Alleges sexual Assault in Prison Van

Jareth Crawford

There is a disturbing report of the sexual assault of a female prisoner at the Belize Central Prison in Hattieville. The woman, who is serving a five-year jail term for a burglary offense, is alleging that she was sexually assaulted by twenty-one year old Kevin Bodden and twenty-nine year old Jareth Crawford. Both men, who are also inmates at the prison, reportedly assaulted the thirty-two year old female prisoner last Thursday while inside the prison van. Today, the duo appeared unrepresented before Magistrate Herbert Panton and pleaded not guilty to the offence. Only Crawford was offered bail in the sum of seven hundred dollars plus a surety of the same amount, but was sent back to prison since he is currently on remand for a robbery. Bodden, on the other hand, is serving a three-year jail term for grievous harm after he was found guilty of shooting police officer, P.C. Abel Mendez back in 2011. Both Bodden and Crawford told Magistrate Panton that they never touched the woman in any way. They are both due back in court for the sexual assault charge on December seventeenth.