Guatemalan farmer charged with murder

A Guatemalan accused of murder was escorted to Belize City Magistrate’s Court this morning where he was formally arraigned. Sixty-three year old Adrian Ascencio appeared before Magistrate Margaret Gabb-McKenzie where the details of the offence were read to him through a court interpreter. Ascencio has been remanded to Hattieville prison until his next court appearance on March seventh. The charge against Ascencio is as a result of police investigations into the discovery of a decomposing corpse. The body was found on January eighteenth in a shallow grave in Rhaburn Ridge, located near the boundary of the Belize and Orange Walk districts, and was later identified as that of Guatemalan Jose Armando Perez. Perez had been reported missing since mid-December. At that time, law enforcement officials had surmised that Perez’s death was drug-related. It is understood tonight that another Guatemalan, Ostilio Garcia, already behind bars for cultivating cannabis, will also be brought up on murder charges for Ascencio’s death.