Landlady charged after altercation with hard-pay tenant

Rachel Middleton

A clash over unpaid rent between a landlord and tenant has left the Belizean-American landlord in trouble with the law.  Sixty-two year old Rachel Middleton appeared before Magistrate Leslie Hamilton on Tuesday and was read two charges for Aggravated Assault with a Machete and Harm to fifty-eight year old Gregory Brackett.  According to Middleton, Brackett is a tenant at an apartment she rents on Magazine Road, and he hasn’t paid rent in four months. When she approached him about the rent an altercation ensued in which she allegedly bit him on the finger. Brackett claims she had a machete, which she denied. The Magistrate advised her not to take the law into her own hands but to get an eviction order for the hard pay tenant. Middleton pleaded not guilty and was offered bail of one thousand dollars plus a surety in the same amount. She is to return to court on August fifth.