Are there more cases of sexual abuse against children that go unreported? C.E.O. Tanya Santos says that the children who are victims are often looking for someone to turn to. She also speaks to the level of support that is provided to victims. Tanya Santos, C.E.O., Ministry of Families “This type of abuse unfortunately […]
Since the state of emergency came into force on August nineteenth, gang members from various parts of the city have been rounded up and incarcerated at the Belize Central Prison. While they are locked away for the next thirty days, two weeks of their stay will be spent in isolation as they are being quarantined […]
According to Dawson, these young men will be given an opportunity to address their issues openly in an effort to resolve them while incarcerated. It’s a difficult undertaking considering the bloodbath that has claimed many lives. William Dawson, Director, Wagner’s Youth Facility “There’s a lot of flare-ups in the different neighborhoods and it’s all […]
Family and friends of thirty-seven-year-old Arilee Young were shocked on Saturday morning when they woke up to the news that the well-known police officer and her daughter, a sixth-form student at SJCJC, had been shot to death inside their apartment on Fourth Street in Belize City. The grisly discovery followed a phone call to police […]
In the wake of the chilling incident, there has been controversy over the police department’s response time since a phone call was placed sometime around three o’clock on Saturday morning. According to members of a neighborhood watch group in King’s Park, the responding officers did not show up until several hours later. That claim, however, […]
It’s a mother’s worst nightmare, but one that Joan Ramsey and her family woke up to Sunday morning when her son David Castillo, who went missing two weeks ago, was found murdered. News Five’s Marion Ali has the story in this report. Marion Ali, Reporting Sometime around eight on the night of Thursday, August […]
Twenty-nine-year-old Ismael Matura lost his life on Saturday night when he was stabbed multiple times during an altercation with someone he was socializing with in Corozal Town. The incident happened during curfew hours. Shortly after eleven p.m., police were summoned to a location where they observed Matura with an open wound and breathing heavily. It […]
There’s another murder in Punta Gorda to report on tonight. It happened on Friday night in the Water Supply neighborhood where Ernel Caliz was fatally shot as he rode a bicycle on Cayetano Street. Since the beginning of the year, we have been reporting on a steady increase in homicides in that southern municipality. While […]
Prime Minister John Briceño says his administration is not walking back on its position against states of emergency as a tool to tackle crime. The Briceño Administration has come under criticism since a state of emergency was declared on Thursday. Some are of the view that PM Briceño, who is on record criticizing the former […]
From a broader perspective, PM Briceño says his administration is working on keeping children in school and creating job opportunities as an approach to addressing gang violence. Prime Minister John Briceño “But it is more than that. We need to be able to reach out to that community, especially the young children. My appeal […]
There is a state of emergency in effect for ten locations designated as hot spots on the south side of Belize City. It also includes the entire area behind the Charles Bartlett Hyde Building known as Back-a-Lands. It is the neighborhood in which sixteen-year-old Kanye King was executed on Monday morning. Since his death, the […]
With a recent spike in violent crimes, including murders, there have been threats of arson, as well as failed attempts to torch the properties of families believed to be involved in those incidents. Earlier this week the residence of Lisa Lauriano was gutted by fire deliberately set by someone in the wake of the stabbing […]
In many of the instances where armed assaults are tied to gang violence, the shooters are often teen minors. In the case of the arson attempts on Park Street, the family, having viewed surveillance footage of the incident, believes that the would-be arsonist is also a minor. ComPol Williams spoke briefly about teen gang members […]
There was a high-speed chase in southern Belize on Wednesday evening that led to a shootout between police officers and an alleged gunman, who is now recovering at the Southern Regional Hospital. It began on the Coastal Road and ended in Silk Grass on the Southern Highway, but Mark Waight was shot in the leg […]
Shots rang out in the Vista del Mar area of Ladyville on Wednesday night and police later intercepted a truck, driven at the time by Gilroy Usher Junior, the son of the Minister of State, Gilroy Usher Senior. A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a nine-millimetre pistol with five live rounds. […]
Southside Belize City is on thirty days of lockdown. The Governor-General of Belize declared that effective today, August nineteenth; a public emergency exists in that part of the city. This latest S.O.E. was proclaimed as a result of increasing gang violence in the city, particularly gang-related shootings. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says the department […]
ComPol Williams says the cabinet agreed that the best option to deal with the spike in gang-related crimes is to instate an S.O.E., considering the fact that the police have been unable to gather sufficient evidence through witnesses and victims for arrests to be made. But, the Briceño Administration has long criticized using state of […]
The Board of Directors of the organization “Our Circle” has issued a statement after their managing director, Derricia Castillo Salazar, was charged with stabbing a woman in the face in San Pedro last weekend. Our Circle’s President, Danae Fairweather, expressed disappointment that this occurred during Pride Island Getaway, an initiative spearheaded by Our Circle during […]
Another youth lies critically wounded as a result of a mid-afternoon attack on Magazine Road in Belize City. But contrary to other media reports, his father says his son was not involved in any gang-related activity. The family says Cassman Gill loves school. Here’s News Five’s Marion Ali with the story. Marion Ali, Reporting […]
The crime situation, particularly in Belize City, is spiraling out of control, notwithstanding a nightly curfew and other measures put in place amid the pandemic. Former law enforcement officer, Elodio Aragon Junior, was also the Minister of State for Home Affairs during the U.D.P.’s term of office. According to Aragon, there is no plan in […]
In some sad news from southern Belize, a Canadian woman has apparently drowned at her resort in Hopkins. Jeannette Barkman, the eighty-four-year-old owner of Jungle Jeannie’s by the Sea, went walking along the seashore early this morning. When she did not return, an employee became concerned and began to search. Her body was found in […]
A document circulating on social media claiming to be a legal opinion from a former prosecutor argues that there is a case for Corporal Kareem Martinez to be charged for murder. Corporal Martinez, as we have reported, stands accused of killing fourteen year old Laddie Gillett on a beach in Placencia with his service issued […]
As police commanders from across the nation gathered at the Police Training Academy in Belmopan on Monday to plan the Department’s response to crime, we asked the Commissioner of Police to speak on the recent increase in murders, particularly those which are gang-related or during curfew. Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police “The matter in […]
It was a bloody, bloody weekend with a slew of reports of violence across the country, but mostly in Belize City. One of the first incidents occurred when a game of dominoes taking place well past midnight on Friday ended in a fatal stabbing. Police are charging the victim’s friend with his murder. Shane Bradley […]
A Belize City man, who was part of an ongoing feud between two criminal groups in his neighborhood, foretold his own death several months ago. Despite Delroy Sankey telling his loved ones that he was on borrowed time, he did not know when his enemies would catch up with him. Well, they did so on […]
