Brother Charged with Manslaughter After Sibling’s Body Was Found Inside Vat

Michael Rowland

Sixty-one year old Lester Yorke’s badly decomposing body was found in a vat in February 2014 at his family’s premises on Guerrero Street in Belize City. This morning, his brother, forty-two year old Michael Anthony Rowland, was arraigned for manslaughter before the Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith. This afternoon, Rowland sought and was granted bail in the sum of three thousand dollars, the first instalment of one thousand dollars to be paid now, while the remaining two thousand dollars was to be in a signed surety. But he could not meet bail so he remains in custody. According to police reports, on February seventeenth, 2014, Rowland reported to police that his brother went missing. But an investigation revealed that on February seventh, 2014, he and Lester had a misunderstanding. Rowland also admitted that his brother fell unconscious when he pushed him. But there are allegations that Rowland placed Lester’s body into a concrete vat on the family premises and left him there.  According to police investigations, the same day on which Rowland made the missing person report, they discovered Lester’s decomposing body inside the vat. The cause of death could not be determined because of the state of decomposition.