Alleged Belize City Rapist Unable to Make Bail

Tayshaun Burns

Four months after being placed on pretrial detention, eighteen-year-old Tayshaun Burns remains in custody after being unable to make bail for the single charge of rape.  In late April, a twenty-eight-year-old woman was sexually assaulted near the overpass in Belize City. The victim subsequently identified Burns as the culprit. She reported to police that she was walking home around seven p.m. on April twenty-ninth, when she was ambushed by someone who grabbed her from behind and put her in sleeper hold.  When she regained consciousness, she observed her attacker going through her purse and that was when he allegedly raped her. In court, Burns appeared before a senior magistrate who granted him bail in the sum of eight thousand dollars, plus two sureties of four thousand dollars. Several conditions were also placed along with Burns’ bail.  Nonetheless, he was unable to make payment and has been further remanded to the Belize Central Prison.