British schoolgirls allege rape by Cayo tour guide
It’s a report out of the Cayo District that is in the process of making the transition from local rumour to international news story. Here’s what we actually know. Three British teenagers on a class trip to Belize from their school outside London have filed a report with police that they were sexually assaulted, allegedly by one of their tour guides. The incident occurred on or around August first. The reason we cannot say more with certainly is that the police, usually only too happy to provide lurid details of local sex crimes, will in this case only confirm that they are investigating the matter and seeking a suspect. Likewise for the British High Commission… who would only refer us to the Foreign Office in London. What News Five has been able to conclude from our own investigation is that the girls, believed to be ages fifteen, sixteen and seventeen, had been drinking, as was the tour guide, and that some point the man and young women engaged in sex.
Where the versions diverge is that while the girls are charging rape, the alleged perpetrator is claiming that it was he who was raped by the aggressively inebriated students. The details of how this particular scenario may have unfolded are–to say the least–peculiar, but also beyond the permitted scope of broadcast television. Unfortunately, the twenty-four year old tour guide at the centre of the criminal investigation is not around to be cross-examined, as it seems he took bush when he saw a group of heavily armed police approaching his house. Until he returns, we’ll just have to make do with speculation, as the British schoolgirls have returned home and authorities on both sides of the Atlantic remain tight-lipped. Whatever details may emerge, it is clear that whatever chaperoning mechanisms were in place failed miserably… and that has serious implications for both the schools abroad who send more and more teens to our shores and our own tourism industry that is charged with ensuring both their fun and their safety.
