Suspected rapist remanded but accused bomber out on bail
Two men who were charged earlier this week with serious offences have been granted bail in the Dangriga Magistrate’s Court.
Fifty year old Dean De Marks, a New Jersey insurance agent planning to construct condominiums in Seine Bight Village, was granted and met bail of ten thousand dollars on charges of possession of C-4 explosives, detonating accessories and possession of an unlicensed gun and ammunition. De Marks was ordered to return to court on April eighth by Magistrate Clive Lino. Lino granted the accused bail on the condition that his passport be seized and he must report to the Dangriga Court every Monday morning until the matter concludes. De Marks was represented in court by senior counsel Simeon Sampson. Police found the items when they raided De Marks’ house around four on Tuesday morning after neighbours reported that he had repeatedly threatened to blow up the village.
Meanwhile, twenty-three year old Jerris Martinez has been remanded to custody after he failed to meet his bail of eight thousand dollars on charges of sodomy, robbery and harm. Magistrate Lino has also ordered Martinez to reappear before him on April eighth. Martinez is accused of robbing and raping a sixty-four year old resident of the Placencia peninsula. The suspect was detained following a second incident involving a woman from the Plantation subdivision. The victim says when she told Martinez she wouldn’t give him water, he began to choke her. A caretaker who heard the commotion managed to scare off Martinez who was later detained by special constables from the area. When cops arrived, they found Martinez still in possession of items stolen in the first attack. The accused faces charges of Aggravated Burglary, Wounding and Committing an Unnatural Crime upon the sixty-four year old man and Harm against the woman. Prosecutor in both cases will be Inspector Daniel Arzu.
Meanwhile, Belmopan police have yet to make any arrest following the murder of a Cotton Tree villager on Wednesday night. Twenty-two year old Mirna Sanabria was shot and killed as she clutched her infant son during an armed robbery at her family’s shop around nine that night. According to lead investigators, an identification parade has been scheduled for tomorrow morning as police gather evidence against the young mother’s killers.
