N.C.F.C. Shocked at Court’s Suspended Sentence for Rape of Child  

The National Commission for Families and Children, N.C.F.C. has expressed shock and disappointment over a suspended sentence handed down last week in the Belize City Supreme Court. In a press release, the N.C.F.C. shared its respectful opinion that the three-year suspended sentence handed down to twenty-four-year-old Edwin Lanza was “unduly lenient”. The organization also shared its view that a more severe punishment for which the law provides and for which the public called, should have been passed down. In handing down the sentence, the judge explained that in 2015, Lanza was also a minor, at age seventeen, when he had sexual relations with the nine-year-old girl. The second time Lanza committed the crime, he was eighteen. Lanza is currently serving time in prison for another offense, but when he is released on February first, 2025, he must seek counseling immediately. He must also stay out of trouble for the duration of time that his suspended sentence is still running.