15 yr. sentence for child rapist upheld in Court of Appeal

The case of the Crown versus Jason Flores ended today in the Court of Appeal, where a sentence of fifteen years behind bars was upheld. Flores was arrested and charged for the January 1999 child rape and beating of a ten year old girl in Dangriga. He managed to escape from a holding cell and fled north to Chicago. But the long arm of the law eventually caught up with Flores and he was deported after U.S. authorities found him with five pounds of weed and a gun. Back in Belize, he was tried for the crimes of carnal knowledge, use of deadly means of harm and grievous harm and sentenced to spend a total of fifteen years in jail. He appealed that decision and was eventually granted a retrial. But the second Supreme Court case ended as had the first, with another fifteen year sentence. Now, his only other legal recourse would be to take the matter to Privy Council in London. Flores, a former police officer, member of the Belize Defence Force and prison warden, remains incarcerated at the Hattieville prison.