Family of Minor Denies Manipulation by John Saldivar

Superintendent Mark Flowers, former commander of the Gang Suppression Unit, spent his first night on remand at the Belize Central Prison on Tuesday.  The pretrial detention succeeds an arraignment at the magistrate’s court during which he was indicted on two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse involving a minor.  The teenager is believed to be several months pregnant.  In probing further into the allegations made against the seasoned officer, News Five made contact with the grandmother of the fourteen-year-old girl by telephone.  We were able to ask questions off-record and the responses were, to a certain extent, quite circumspect.  The name of the grandmother will not be revealed to protect the identity of the child. When we asked the woman, who spoke on behalf of the family, if they knew Minister of National Security John Saldivar personally, she vehemently denied.  In fact, she went as far as saying that as constituents of Cayo South, they would have no reason to interact with the Belmopan area representative.  In the same vein, the matriarch also refuted the claim that her daughter and granddaughter accepted payment to blackmail Flowers, as he claims.  We also asked about previous reports filed by the minor and her mother with Belmopan police.  The grandmother told News Five that the initial report of sexual abuse against the child’s stepfather was filed in June 2015.  Regarding the pregnancy, she claims that upon discovering that the teenager was with child, she, along with her daughter, took the teen to the Domestic Violence Unit in Belize City where a formal report was filed against Superintendent Mark Flowers.  She would not, however, disclose how far along her granddaughter is in her pregnancy.  In an extended interview with News Five prior to his surrender on Tuesday afternoon, Flowers said that despite previous reports of sexual abuse involving the stepfather, the focus is squarely on him, as purportedly orchestrated by Minister John Saldivar.

Mark Flowers

Supt. Mark Flowers, Former Commander, GSU

“The obvious conclusion is that Mark Flowers is the target, so irrespective of how many complaints they made there, they’re not worried about that.  They are worried about Mark Flowers, Mark Flowers [is whom] they want to get at. This was followed by a meeting that John Saldivar summoned senior officers and the head of GSU to a meeting in Belmopan.  Of course he didn’t know that I was on leave because John doesn’t know anything about GSU; he’s never spoken to me in my capacity as head of GSU ever in the two years that I was there and neither have I spoken to him in that capacity.  So he summoned people to the meeting and then the person who was left in charge attended the meeting.  The meeting was held and during that meeting, that was on the thirteenth, I think, or fourteenth of July.  In that meeting he had directed that I be moved as head of GSU.  This was before any complaints or anything.  So it is then consistent with what they were saying that this was a move that was planned in advance.  It was.  But it is also consistent with the information of the Black Man Eddy domino table discussion where he had decided then that Mark Flowers must get [bleep].”