Conorquie acquitted of heisting $23,000 from casino

And twenty-five year old Nathaniel Conorquie, the man accused of pulling a major heist, walked off a Robbery charge today. The hold-up occurred on February twentieth 2006 at the Princess Casino in Belize City in which over thirty-five thousand five hundred dollars were stolen. Conorquie, a former chef at the establishment, was only charged with robbing the hotel of twenty-three thousand, one hundred and ninety-five dollars. Conorquie had reportedly confessed to committing the crime in a caution statement but later accused police of taking him to Mile eight on the Western Highway and beating him, after which they made a statement, which he was forced to sign. At the end of a voire dire, Supreme Court Justice Adolph Lucas ruled in favor of the prosecution and admitted Conorquie’s caution statement. But a jury of nine women and three men who had deliberated for a little under three hours emerged after two this afternoon and acquitted Conorquie.

The facts of the case are that on February twentieth, between nine and ten Ana Perez and Margarita Martinez were escorted by security guard, Kevin Todd, to make a transfer of monies. The two were accosted and robbed of two money bags containing cash, cheques, and credit card payments. The robber, who wore a blue mask, held up the security guard at gunpoint and grabbed one of the two bags from him then run out. Todd then handed over the second bag to Perez, who alerted hotel authorities. But the speedy gunman had already jumped the fence and fled in a white car parked nearby. No one could positively identify Conorquie as the gunman nor did police conduct an identification parade. Conorquie handed himself in to police later that day in the presence of his attorney after he heard police were looking for him in connection with the robbery. Today he walked free.