A family of four, including two minors, was busted over the weekend for defying the most severe piece of law to come into effect during the state of emergency. Despite the new measures going into the Labour Day weekend, both parents, along with their children, illegally crossed over into Mexico where the state of Quintana […]
Just before the eight o’clock curfew on Sunday night, gunshots rang out in the Benguche area of Dangriga. When the shooting subsided, a man and a woman had both been injured. Luwani and Ernest Mena were attacked in what police say was a gang-related incident. It is the second shooting within the past two weeks […]
The shooting on Sunday night in Dangriga is the result of an ongoing feud between rival gangs, a beef that has been simmering for several weeks and has landed two other persons in the Southern Regional Hospital. The attack on Luwani and Ernest Mena in the Benguche area is the latest incident and today Commissioner […]
Wanted murder suspect Amin Cho has been detained and charged. The Guinea Grass resident was wanted for the 2017 murder of Pedro Pol, an elderly shopkeeper of August Pine Ridge. Back on June fifteenth, 2017, Pol was inside his store in the village when he was ambushed and beaten by two men, including a minor. […]
Statutory Instrument Sixty-Two has brought into effect a new two-month state of emergency on May first and with it a revised set of regulations to govern the movement of the citizenry during this period. The Belize Police Department has its hands full now that thousands of residents are back on the streets in their respective […]
Over the extended weekend as many as sixty-two persons were arrested and charged for various offences related to the state of emergency. That total is a considerable reduction from previous weekends when persons were being booked by larger numbers. According to the ComPol, despite not charging anyone on the first day of the new state […]
In March, a state of emergency was declared to deal with the spike in gang-related gun violence in the city. Persons affiliated with eight south side gang groups were rounded up and placed at the central prison in Hattieville. It has been almost two weeks since a truce was reached and one hundred plus persons […]
One person has been detained in connection with the murder of Julian Ebanks, a resident of the Bainsville area of Hattieville. On Monday morning, Ebanks was gunned down a few yards from his house. As he walked home, police say he was approached by three persons, one of whom pulled out a gun and opened […]
ComPol Chester Williams also spoke about the gun violence in Dangriga where a man and woman were injured. On Monday night, just before eight o’clock, Frederick Coote and Tamera Nunez were inside a house when at least one gunman trained his weapon towards the residence and opened fire. Both Coote and Nunez were struck multiple […]
Police have made an arrest in the murder of Walter Usher. Usher was killed on February twenty-third in Belize City. Evian Murillo has been charged with Usher’s Murder. Murillo is also facing charges of attempted murder, dangerous harm and use of deadly means of harm upon Joyce Edwards. Usher was targeted by two gunmen on […]
A shooting incident in Dangriga on Monday night has left two persons hospitalized with gunshot injuries. Frederick Coote and Tamera Nunez were attacked inside a residence sometime around eight p.m., just about curfew time, when multiple shots were fired at the house. Coote was struck by a bullet to the chest, while Nunez was injured […]
Julian Ebanks was shot and killed this morning in the Bainsville area of Hattieville Village. Ebanks was released from prison merely two weeks and had complained that his life was under threat. Just before six o’clock when Ebanks was returning to his house, someone from among a group of three men opened fire on him. […]
Fifty-nine persons countrywide were arrested and charged over the weekend for breaking the State of Emergency regulations. According to Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, forty-five persons were arrested for being unable to provide reasons for movement outside the curfew period. Thirteen persons were arrested for breach of curfew. One person was arrested for operating public […]
In addition to the arrests made at the river banks and elsewhere during the state of emergency, five persons were also arrested, charged and fined for violations of the National Protected Areas Systems Act. On Friday, April twenty-fourth, Jose Angel Maravilla, Joaquin Ico, Florencio Choc, Elsueio Cho and Alfus Edwards, all of San Roman Village […]
Three persons, including his stepfather, are detained for questioning in the mysterious drowning of a Hattieville resident. Twenty-two-year-old Nigel Welch, his stepfather and two others went to an eleven feet deep man-made pond near the Belize Central Prison; soon after, Welch drowned. Those who know Welch say he did not know how to swim so […]
The early closure of the conch season and the coronavirus pandemic have also had an impact of fisherfolks. While they are still allowed to harvest finfish within the non-curfew hours, many have not been able to go out to sea so have lost their source of income. The vast southern waters are problematic to patrol, […]
Conservation and Compliance Supervisor at the Fisheries Department, Hampton Gamboa also gave an update on another case, which occurred on March twenty-ninth. In that incident at sea, also in the Twin Caye area, four men were detained, their vessel seized and cargo recovered, which contained one hundred and thirty-two whole lobsters. As you know, the […]
A new statutory instrument signed on April twentieth prohibits the lighting of fires during the State of Emergency. Concerns grew after the number of fires recorded across the country soared to one hundred and eighty-six. This continues to pose serious health and safety issues, especially for Belizeans living in the Cayo District, including Belmopan, where […]
The state of emergency for feuding Belize City gangs was lifted last Thursday and over a hundred and forty-two presumed gang members are back on the streets of the Old Capital. After thirty days of lockdown at the Belize Central Prison, one would assume that there would have been a lesson learned or an appreciation […]
Tonight there is more on the death of fashion designer Ulysease Roca, who was determined to have died from multiple organ failure. The HIV patient was found dead in his home in Willows Bank Village on April nineteenth. But before passing, Roca posted an emotional live video on his Facebook in which he accused officers […]
A number of police officers have come under fire for their brutish behavior and abuses against citizens. As for the officer who videoed and ridiculed Roca while he was in detention, Chester Williams says he is being dealt with. That officer is police constable Chris Staine, who is expected to be charged internally for “an […]
Jason Shaw, Leslie Martinez, and Anthony Villamil have been charged and arraigned for the crime of Willful Oppression. The trio is accused of forcing a man and a mentally challenged woman into a sexual act at an abandoned house on Central American Boulevard. The coercion was recorded by one of the officers on his cell […]
But police officers are yet to be held criminally charged for the vicious beating put on Alejandro Chavez, a seventy-seven-year-old resident of the San Martin community in Belmopan. The incident happened on April third when police were out on curfew patrol. The officers were reportedly pursuing two persons after eight o’clock that night. The pursuit […]
Meanwhile, in San Ignacio, two police officers were held accountable for using excessive force on Gilbardo Velasquez. Velasquez was detained for breaching curfew regulations on April nineteenth. A video of Velasquez limping out of the San Ignacio Police station was shared on social media which prompted Police Commissioner Chester Williams to direct the Professional Standard […]
The family of Ulysease Roca, a gay fashion designer, is questioning the cause of his death. There was no autopsy done on the body before it was cremated so the family has become suspicious over the cause of his demise. When he was detained for curfew violations, Ulysease claimed on video that he had been […]
