Father Avoids Charge for Beating Daughter & Wife

Francisco Mejia

Francisco Mejia of Santana village, Belize District, is lucky to avoid a criminal charge after his wife elected to withdraw charges of harm and threatening words. The charges arise from a complaint made after Mejia beat his thirteen-year-old daughter for disobeying him, then turned on her mother when she tried to intervene. Mejia said he was only trying to discipline his daughter, who went to a house in the village where she was forbidden to go. She had been warned not to be alone with the boys who visit that house. Chief Magistrate Sharon Frazer warned that beating up on women was not acceptable, but the wife forgave him. She said in court that she felt he had done enough to the child and so she intervened. The pair agreed in court that Mejia would not discipline her that way again, so that the child would not be further scarred and he avoids as much as five years in jail if convicted.