Accused in Ranchito Kidnapping Out on Bail
Two of four men linked to an armed robbery and kidnapping in Ranchito, Corozal on May third, 2017 were today granted Supreme Court bail in the sum of ten thousand dollars each. The duo was arraigned on Thursday, May eighteen, 2017, in the Corozal Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Patricia Arana for the offenses of robbery with a firearm and kidnapping of Eder Stevenson Hall. After an overnight in lock down at the Belize Central Prison, two of the men, Jeffery Gongora and Bryan Espinosa managed to get their bail application heard today before Justice Antoinette Moore in the Belize City Supreme Court. There was no objection to bail by the D.P.P.’s office, represented by Crown Counsel Jacqueline Willoughby, so the duo got and met bail by this afternoon. There are conditions, however and both have to report to the Corozal Police Station every Friday and attend all their court adjournments as ordered by the magistrate. They were also ordered to stay away from the prosecution witnesses and keep out of trouble. Both men had outstanding fines to the court. In the case of Espinosa, he owed the court a total of one thousand three hundred dollars which he has to pay by June second, 2017, while Gongora owes the court one hundred and forty dollars which he has to pay by May twenty-sixth, 2017. Two others have already been charged for the kidnapping incident. They are Espinosa’s brother, Jason and Eber Lopez. The four men are due back in the Corozal Magistrate’s Court on August eighth, 2017.