There is an unprecedented challenge before the Caribbean Court of Justice. The case got underway today with President Justice Denis Byron presiding. Attorneys Eamon Courtenay and Ileana Swift are representing convicted murderer Gregory August. In 2009, August was charged for the murder of Alvin Robinson, an elderly resident of Eight Mile on the George Price […]
Is incarcerated Ladyville resident Mark Seawell closer to being extradited to the United States or is he finally going home to his family in the days ahead? His fate as an inmate on remand at the Belize Central Prison hangs in the balance, pending a decision by the Supreme Court on April sixth. Seawell, who […]
Unlike Gary Seawell’s case, which was dragged through the entire judicial system, Cooper is confident that the matter will be resolved in the high court and that the case will be dispensed with in an expeditious manner. Ben Cooper, Attorney for Mark Seawell “I have every confidence in this court for justice to be […]
After several years in receivership, the Renaissance Towers complex on Newtown Barracks in the city was sold via public auction on Wednesday. News Five has been informed that the property is now owned by a group of investors including brothers Emil and Daniel Arguelles for four-point-seven-five million dollars. The Towers was owned by businessman Luke […]
All Fools’ Day may be on Saturday, but for those who enjoy beer and cigarettes or pay electricity bills of one hundred dollars and above, our next story will be no joke at all. Prices are going up effective April first for beer, rum, cigarettes, fuel and aerated water or soft drinks. Government legislated in […]
On Thursday, a group of stakeholders in the Fort George Tourism Zone voiced strong objections to a proposed three hundred dollar fee for rent that will be levied by the Belize City Council for use of its facilities. Vendors are beside themselves following an announcement that CitCo is considering implementing the new fee at the […]
It has now been a month since the Government successfully served Estevan Perera as attorney on behalf of Andre Vega, businessman and son of the former DPM and Minister of Natural Resources Gaspar Vega. Andre for unknown reasons could not personally be located for months so the papers were delivered to his attorney. Attorney Sharon […]
More traffic, more noise, more chaos and significantly less profits, as residents, businesses and tour operators are livid that the Belize Tourism Board is once again proposing a shakeup of the Fort George Tourism Zone. This afternoon, stakeholders, big and small, as well as residents of Fort George, convened a press conference where major concerns […]
The proposed three-hundred-dollar rental fee, according to retailers using CitCo’s booths, will further cripple their already weakened bottom line. Patricia Madril has been selling food within the zone for the past fifteen years and maintains that not only is the fee exorbitant, but it is also unreasonable. She says the new regime doesn’t take into […]
Late this evening, we got a response from Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley, who told News Five that there has been a deviation from the initial tourism master plan for the Fort George area. Not only does the Belize City Council support the concerns of residents and the local business community, it accedes that the […]
Did Barton Middleton act as an agent in the very lucrative visa services industry between 2011 and 2013? He has been accused of such by no less than Patrick Tillett, a U.D.P. insider, who told the Senate Special Select Committee that he paid Middleton some three thousand dollars per visa to take the applications into […]
The logjam between the Belize Police Department and the media has been broken. This morning, representatives of various media houses met with Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie and four jurisdictional commanders. The meeting came after several weeks of a boycott instituted by the media when communications, as well as the free flow of information, ground […]
A recent fire in the Ladyville community has brought into sharp focus the ongoing issue of illegal dumpsites that have been popping up through the village on the Philip Goldson Highway. Residents from the village and elsewhere have indiscriminately been disposing of their garbage anywhere there is an empty spot. Aside from being an eyesore, […]
In early January, PASA Belize Limited shut down operations at the solid waste transfer stations and sanitary landfill. All operations within the central corridor—from San Ignacio/Santa Elena to San Pedro and Caye Caulker—came to a grinding halt. The very real hazard of accumulating garbage was quickly averted as Solid Waste Unit took up the charge […]
The sole witness present at today’s public hearing of the Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration was Barton Middleton. His appearance is the culmination of long weeks of interrogation of multiple witnesses involved in the disappearance of eight visa foils from the Western Border Immigration Station. Several of these visas wound up in passports for […]
Before that big reveal, Middleton displayed a severe case of amnesia through much of this morning’s testimony, apparently unable to recall much of anything that happened to him in the past several years and certainly around the time under investigation by the Select Committee. Take, for instance, Inez Casanova, the Immigration officer erroneously accused of […]
Though he may be forgetful of events, Barton Middleton is well aware of why he was called to Belmopan today. No less than four persons – Immigration Officers Mark Tench, Lindsay Wade and Vernon Leslie – as well as Patrick Tillett – have detailed their alleged dealings with Middleton as an Immigration “agent.” Tillett said […]
In the course of his testimony, Middleton claimed to have gone to surgery at the Corozal Hospital for a tumour growing at the base of his brain. When we checked this evening with the Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin Manzanero, he told us that while the Corozal Community Hospital has an operating theater, which […]
Barton Middleton, if not a hostile witness, was certainly a reluctant one. He spent much of his testimony denying meeting or closely knowing the likes of Mark Tench and Patrick Tillett. Indeed, the words “I don’t recall” or “I don’t know” featured prominently as his answers to direct questioning from the panel. Middleton also claimed […]
On Monday, the Senate defeated the PACT Amendment Bill in a significant first for the upper house, when a majority of parliamentarians voted against the proposed law. The government is seeking to raise close to eleven million dollars in departure taxes, known as development fees, which it is increasing from thirty-five to forty U.S. dollars. […]
There may be basis for the Government’s actions in the Constitution, but does that make it right? Senator for the Business Community Mark Lizarraga told News Five this afternoon in Belmopan that he would have to seek legal recourse for an understanding of the Government’s actions. But he allowed that while the Government may well […]
Another cop goes down in the city and is tonight fighting for his life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City. But there are more questions than answers in this shooting incident in the Old Capital. According to the police, forty-year-old Police Corporal Daniel Paul Lawrence, who is attached to Strike Team South, […]
Forty-seven-year-old Marcial Toledo, an accused cop killer, is tonight on remand at the Belize Central Prison after being arraigned on Monday for the brutal murder of a law enforcement officer. Despite being booked for the fatal stabbing of Police Constable Marvin Locke, the Honduran national was initially turned back from being admitted into the custody […]
The daring mid-afternoon murder of Police Constable Marvin Locke, while on duty at the Raccoon Street Precinct on Sunday, has left the department badly shaken up and reeling from the unimaginable. It is being forced to seriously consider adequate security measures for the safety of its employees. As it stands, Precinct Two is among several […]
Twenty-seven-year-old Kenzle Hulse was quietly arraigned in the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court last Wednesday, after being arrested and charged for the lesser crime of harm. The young businessman’s indictment comes several months after a report was officially made against him by a customer who was purchasing fuel at a gas station. According to Alberto Santos Lopez, […]
