We also spoke with two of the minds behind Jankunu Productionz. Sandra McKay and Julie Ann Bradley told us more about the play, ‘Frenemy’ and an accompanying master class in theater that’s being led by Samuels. Sandra McKay, Co-Founder, Jankunu Productionz “It is something that is a little different in terms of we have […]
All hell broke loose onboard a water taxi on Sunday afternoon loaded with passengers returning to the city from the popular Lobster Fest held in Caye Caulker. The brouhaha soon became violent and a young police officer was removed from the water taxi and subdued by another officer as he fell unconscious. To make a […]
Special Envoy for Women and Children Kim Simplis Barrow has weighed in on the matter. In a social media post, Simplis Barrow says that discrimination has no place in our communities. She adds that violence of this kind has no place in society. Executive Director for United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM) echoed similar sentiments saying […]
Sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, a fifty-seven-year-old resident of Neal Penn Road in Belize City was murdered after a robbery inside his house. The body of Errol Crown was found around six-thirty a.m. outside his house with injuries to his head. Crown left a party at his daughter’s house and headed home before […]
Well-known street figure in San Pedro Town, twenty-three-year-old Christian Espat, has been released by police on the island. On Friday, Espat handed himself over to police in the company of his attorney Leeroy Banner. He was being sought for questioning in the double murder of popular tour guide Mario Graniel and prominent U.S. doctor Gary […]
The double murder of Mario Graniel and Doctor Gary Swank prompted the National Security Council of Belize to call an emergency meeting. The Security Council, which is chaired by Prime Minister Dean Barrow, has agreed to some immediate measures that will later be expanded. Additional officers have been deployed to the island and according to […]
There has been no further communication from Belize Telemedia Limited since last week. On Wednesday, News Five first reported on leaked documents which purportedly showed that B.T.L. owes the government millions of dollars in backed up general sales tax. In total, the government company is said to owe close to fifty million dollars in taxes […]
Turning to the crime blotter…a brawl outside of a nightclub in Dangriga has left two persons injured with gunshot wounds after a police officer discharged his service issued weapon in an attempt to diffuse the melee. Edmond Cayetano and Raquel McKenzie were both struck by a single round fired by the responding officer who is […]
There is a huge development tonight regarding the top job at Belize Telemedia Limited. And that is that Rochus Schreiber has tendered his resignation as the Chief Executive Officer for B.T.L. Schreiber’s resignation was confirmed through an “employee bulletin” which was issued by B.T.L.’s Human Resources Department. The bulletin states that Schreiber, and we quote […]
Still on B.T.L., records obtained by our newsroom, show that Belize Telemedia Limited owes the Government of Belize tens of millions of dollars in unpaid General Sales Tax. According to Financial Secretary Joseph Waight, the G.S.T. Department is currently conducting an audit of the company’s financial records, but B.T.L.’s Chairman, Nestor Vasquez, vehemently says that […]
Businessman Carlton Wade was gunned down at his shop in Hattieville on Wednesday night just before he closed for the day. Inside the store were his two grandchildren, while his wife was in the upper flat. Wade lost his life at the hands of two gunmen, but he valiantly protected his grandchildren. Now, Wade is […]
Financial Secretary Joseph Waight has admitted that there are problems with regards to the reporting of financial facts by finance officers across government ministries and departments. This has been a complaint that the Auditor General has been making for several years in her annual report. The inadequate performance by finance officers, accounting clerks has resulted […]
Earlier in the month, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced a settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and Atlantic International Bank Limited, describing it as a ‘win for Belize’. The settlement comes after Atlantic International was named in a claim in the US and formed part of the FTC’s investigation in what is described as the […]
Lead scammer Andris Pukke along with several associates, promised clients a lush piece of land equipped with world class amenities on a fourteen thousand-acre property in southern Belize. It’s a scam that played out over the course of several years and according to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, the Central Bank received no evidence of the […]
B.D.F. soldier, Albert Moreira was charged for the October 2018 murder of Felina James, his girlfriend and mother of their son. This week, he went to trial and saw the charge of murder dismissed by Magistrate Michelle Trapp when the court prosecutor informed that there was no case file available. Moreira’s attorney, Oscar Selgado, made […]
We have been reporting on a rash of murders, at least eleven persons have been killed since last Thursday. On Wednesday, hours after Derrick Tracy was gunned down in the city, a businessman was shot and killed in Hattieville. Carlton Wade was inside his shop in the village, when he came under attack by gunmen. […]
Tonight, we know some more about the investigation into the murders of Mario Graniel and Doctor Gary Swank. The cold-blooded execution a few miles off of Ambergris Caye has left that island community reeling in shock and fear. And police have been hot on the murder trail. On Wednesday night, Commissioner of Police met with […]
This morning, a wanted poster for twenty-three-year-old Christian Espat, a well-known person to police and alleged gangster on San Pedro Town, began circulating on social media. Espat was reportedly wanted for questioning for the double murder of tour guide Mario Graniel and prominent US doctor Gary Swank. On Wednesday, several persons including a woman were […]
On Wednesday night, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams and other security personnel, as well as Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia, met with the San Pedro community to discuss the way forward in light of the double murder of well-known tour guide Mario Graniel and visitor Gary Swank. Williams informed the residents about his plans to […]
The murder of American citizen Doctor Gary Swank of the State of Virginia has sparked wide spread coverage in the international media. That bad press is already costing Belize’s tourism industry as hotels are getting cancellations. On Wednesday, we were at the U.S. Embassy where we spoke with the visiting Deputy Director of Central American […]
The General Sales Tax Department is conducting an audit of B.T.L.’s accounts. News Five has received voluminous information and documents which show the telecom giant purportedly owing the Government of Belize millions of dollars in G.S.T. Said debt dates back to 2012, which according to the documents obtained show that by the end of 2017 […]
Information to News Five is that B.T.L. Chair Net Vasquez wrote to Financial Secretary asking for a write-off. Joseph Waight says he has not seen a letter. We attempted several times to get in contact with Acting Commissioner of GST, Evan Brown but all our attempts have proved futile. We did manage to ask Cabinet […]
The murder count continues to ratchet up even as police continue investigations to crack a slew of murders in the past days including that of a highly respected doctor from the U.S. who was killed along with a tour guide in San Pedro. This afternoon in Belize City, the all too familiar sounds of gunshots […]
We can report tonight that investigators have made significant progress into the double murder of tour guide Mario Graniel and prominent US Doctor Gary Swank. Reports from the island of Ambergris Caye are that police have detained a woman very close to Graniel. We are told that the woman, whom we will not identify at […]
Tonight, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams will be meeting with stakeholders in the tourism industry in San Pedro following the double murder at sea and the disappearance of two men. The hoteliers and key persons on the island are concerned that the spiral of violence on the island will have ramifications to the tourism industry. […]
