Fingerprint fingers burglar…

It may be common practice in most places but here in Belize, police prosecutors are patting themselves on the back, having convicted an accused burglar by using fingerprint evidence. Court reports are that nineteen year old Shane Atis was charged with burglary after police found him in possession of more than three thousand dollars worth of stolen goods belonging to Leon Leslie of Maxboro. But what sealed the government’s case was the fact that sergeant Florence Escobar was able to present photographic evidence in court showing that Atis had left his fingerprint on a glass louvre on Leslie’s house. According to Escobar the fingerprints of the defendant and those found on the window had eighteen points of comparison; in other words, they were a perfect match. As a result of that testimony, Magistrate Dorothy Flowers sentenced Atis to five years behind bars.