Police look for would be child molester

In recent years we have witnessed an alarming number of child molestation cases … but rarely has an alleged perpetrator been caught in the act. That’s what apparently took place last week in the Cayo village of Camalote, where it is alleged that an Englishman residing in Belize attempted to take liberties with a nine year old girl. The child escaped, but unfortunately so did her molester. This morning I travelled west to see where the investigation is heading.

Zelda Banner, Mother
?I feel bad, nervous and that was not a nice feeling. Because you don?t expect that that would happen to you, and in the village you never hear those things happening there. It is a nice village. Only families live around here, and from here to shop is no distance.?

Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
This is the Toyota Four Runner identified by witnesses as the vehicle the girl was seen sitting in. Zelda Banner says she does not like to think what could have happened to her nine year old daughter if she had not quickly responded. According to Banner, she first became concerned after a cousin came by her house to say that he had just seen the child inside a vehicle with a man. Banner says last Wednesday morning around eleven she sent her daughter on her bicycle to a neighbourhood store. Investigations reveal the child was approaching the shop when a grey SUV suddenly swerved in front of the little girl forcing her stop. Banner says when she reached the location she saw the driver outside the vehicle and her daughter inside.

Zelda Banner
?I no know if he just came out of his vehicle and went to shut the bonnet of the vehicle, but I saw him locking down the bonnet. Then I saw him coming to the driver side of the vehicle and my little girl was in there. So when I went up to the vehicle I saw the door was closed, from a distance you know when a vehicle door is closed, but when I reach close to the vehicle door it was a little open so I yelled at her to get her rass out of the vehicle and she jumped out, pushed the door open and jumped out and came behind the vehicle where I was. Meanwhile, her bicycle was on the ground beside the vehicle. She looked sad, worried, and she was crying. I don?t even have words to express that because she didn?t even know what danger she was in that minute there.?

Banner says as she started questioning her daughter the man came around to the back of the vehicle but when he saw them he appeared nervous. Banner says after telling her daughter to go to a relative?s house she then confronted the man.

Zelda Banner
?I told the man, ?what the hell are you ? ?? But I didn?t say it that way I used cursed words. I said ?what the ? are you telling my daughter? Then I said, ?what the ? are you doing with my daughter in your vehicle? And he didn?t respond so I told him, ?what are you telling her about fifty dollars?? Then he replied and said, ?I lost my wallet.?

According to the child after the man stopped her he put her inside the vehicle and then offered her money if she would sit on his lap.

Voice of nine year old girl
?The man ask me if I want fifty dollars to sit on his lap and I told him, ?no?. Then he grabbed me up here to sit on his lap and then I come off his lap.?

Banner says she believes it was divine intervention that caused the vehicle not to start as the man tried drive off with her daughter. Villagers recall seeing the SUV but they could not see the child because the vehicle had dark tinted windows.

Jacqueline Godwin
?Today this closely knit community remains very concerned about their children?s safety. It is almost one week since the near abduction of the little girl and Belmopan police still do not have much information on their wanted man. Only that Matthew Lucy, who is believed to be in his forties, is a British National who lives somewhere between San Ignacio and Benque.?

Dale Banner, Chairman, Camalote Village
?It?s a serious situation. It is the first time something like this has happened, and to me the police are taking it lightly. As the principal of the school it is more than serious, because these children travel on foot to home, one mile on bout sides. So it is something we have to look into, and plea to the police to please take the law serious.?

Banner says immediately after the incident she contacted the police but the authorities did not arrive until four hours later, by which time the man had left the area.

Zelda Banner
?If the police had come when we called they would have caught him. Or if they had even put up a check point on the road, like they have one going to Cayo, and just check for the licenses plate number they would have caught him then and there the same day. They never reached until three o?clock the evening and that is when we call 922-TIPS way out maybe Miami, Florida, I don?t know where. The evening we went back and called and that is how police came here the evening.?

Officer in Charge of Belmopan police, Superintendent Rudolph Orio, says they have not been dragging their feet on the case but have been doing what they can to get their suspect whom they say will be charged for common assault. Orio says they have been working with their counterparts in San Ignacio and Benque and it was through this working relationship that they to impound the vehicle which they found parked on a street in Benque.

Supt. Rudolph Orio, O.C. Belmopan Police Station
?One of the challenges we face is that the gentleman does not live in this area. I understand he lives somewhere in Benque Viejo, and we totally rely on our counterparts in San Ignacio for their assistance. I was made to understand that they have made repeated pre-dawn searches at his home and they have not been able to find him.?

Orio says it was through a telephone conversation with one of Lucy?s attorneys that the suspect had promised to turn himself in. But so far he has failed to show up at any police station.

Supt. Rudolph Orio
?On Friday the sixteenth I spoke with his attorney, Mr. Orlando Fernandez, and at the same time I spoke to a gentleman who identified himself as Matthew Lucy, who promised to come to Belmopan. I waited for him until after about two o?clock, and he did not come in. Shortly after Lionel Welch, an attorney-at-law in Belize City came to check on his client, the same Matthew Lucy, and he again then promised to come in. During the conversation with Welch he said he would not have been coming in again, and when I spoke to him, I said look I will give you a deadline of Monday to come in, and so far he has not.?

The police still believe Lucy may be hiding out somewhere in the country.

Supt. Rudolph Orio
?Well we don?t have anything to indicate otherwise. We have prepared a warrant for his arrest. We have informed the international airport. We have informed all the exist borders to be on the look out for this gentleman by the name of Matthew Lucy.?

Police have no picture of their wanted man. Banner described Lucy as a medium built man with light brown hair.

Zelda Banner
?He has a white complexion, male person. He is tall, about six feet and he has no scars on his face but he has a long face. Narrow long face with a funny chin.?

Banner says she decided to go public with her story because she believes it will help to make parents and children more aware of the dangers that exist.

Zelda Banner
?To me this is a serious matter. Because if my cousin didn?t come and said, ?Zelda your little girl is in that vehicle.? What would I be doing right now? I would not have been able to be sitting here talking to you all about anything; I would have been out there searching for her.?

If you know the whereabouts of Matthew Lucy please call the nearest police station or Crime Stoppers at 0-800-922-TIPS. In related news Belize City police have yet to make an arrest in connection with the thirteen year old primary school student who went missing after being sent to a nearby store. The young girl was later found unharmed having spent two nights in a house occupied by adult men.