Minor to Stand Trial for Murder
Clement Bol Jr.
It made headlines when a Belize City fourth form student who was aspiring to attend the University College of Belize, was found stabbed to death inside the Lord Ridge Cemetery last year. On Saturday, August sixth, 2014, sometime around six in the morning, Chryslin Gladden’s body was found lying between a grave at the Lord Ridge Cemetery. Today, the horrific pictures surfaced in the magistrate’s court, less than a year after the gruesome murder. The pictures show that Gladden had been stabbed multiple times; she had wounds to the left side of her neck and back and they were so many and too numerous to count. Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith determined that the two persons accused of the murder will have to stand trial. They are a former classmate of Gladden and Clement Bol Junior of Grace Avenue Buttonwood Bay area. At the conclusion of the preliminary inquiry, the two learnt that they will stand trial for murder at the June session of the Supreme Court. There were a number of statements given in the case against the minor and Bol Junior, including one from a seventeen year old teenager who placed both accused at the murder scene claiming that Bol Junior held down Gladden while the classmate inflicted several stab wounds on her.
The prosecutor, Corporal Christopher Smith, also relied heavily on a statement given to the police by the underage girl. Her attorney, Ellis Arnold, did not appear in court this morning so the Chief Magistrate was satisfied that the statements tendered into evidence by the prosecutor was enough to form a case against the two. Back in August 2014, when Gladden’s lifeless body was found at the Lord Ridge Cemetery, a ten inch blade believed to be the murder weapon was discovered two hundred feet away from the scene. Chryslin was last seen socializing with the accused minor and others on Booths Crescent in the south side Belize City. It is not known when she met her death, but police say it was motivated by jealously and hatred. Several persons were detained including a police officer, but it was not until four days after the gruesome discovery of her body that the duo was arraigned for the murder. Bol Junior is no stranger to the court; he has previous charges for criminal offenses including robbery, and has also been the victim of several shootings.
