Frank Castro…it’s the name that sparked terror in the nineteen nineties and early two thousand. The notorious street figure was a known ring leader in serious felonies, including the murder and kidnapping of taxi driver Peter Novelo in the late nineteen nineties, as well as a string of robberies and other offenses. He spent over […]
News Five has been able to confirm reports that a badly decomposed body was discovered at around four this afternoon between miles five and six on the Phillip Goldson Highway, just past the Haulover Bridge. The body, which is unidentified at this time, was found in the sea behind a building, allegedly by a resident […]
A dubious land transaction involving the sale of a beachfront parcel on Caye Caulker has left a retired English couple short of tens of thousands of dollars. Sydney and Anna Higgins fell in love with the island a few years ago and decided to own a property north of the village. The Londoners purchased an […]
The Higgins have sought legal advice and despite the efforts of their attorneys, have been given the runaround by the Lands Department. The uncertainty of how the matter will be resolved has forced the couple to suspend any development on the parcel. Sidney Higgins, Land Owner “The lawyers here have been looking at it […]
A fiery blaze on Partridge Street Extension at around one-thirty this afternoon completely destroyed an upstairs wooden home belonging to Edith Valentine. Nobody was there at the time, and Valentine, who works as a cook at Price Barracks got the call at her job. By the time Fire Department personnel extinguished the flames, all had […]
Former administrator of the Southern Regional Hospital, Nasley Somerville, has been dismissed from the public service after a year of administrative leave. Somerville was suspended from her post in October 2013 when it was discovered that over three hundred and sixty thousand dollars had been siphoned from the hospital’s account during a three-year period. Her […]
On Wednesday, while all attention was on the outcome of the Maya Land Rights case, the Caribbean Court of Justice also handed down a decision in the case of Juanita Lucas and Celia Carillo versus the Chief Education Officer and the Minister of Education. The judgment of Justices Nelson, Hayton, Anderson, Saunders and Wit was […]
The Caribbean Court of Justice, the final appellate jurisdiction for Belize, has affirmed Maya customary land rights in a milestone judgment handed down earlier today in Belize City. In delivering the conclusion, CCJ President Dennis Byron, read, “The court accepts the undertaking of the appellants to adopt fully the measures to identify and protect the […]
In addressing a gathering during a press conference at the Biltmore immediately following the decision, MLA spokesperson Cristina Coc reiterated that a debt of gratitude is owed to the leadership of the respective Maya communities who stayed the course to see the landmark case through to completion. Coc similarly expressed bittersweet sentiment on the way […]
Government’s attorney, Senior Counsel Denys Barrow, prior to making his submission before the Caribbean Court of Justice earlier today, raised a preliminary objection, stating that there had never been a claim for damages on the part of the applicants. The damages sought by the Maya Leaders Alliance and the Toledo Alcaldes Association are twofold. There […]
According to Barrow, the fact that the Maya were deprived of their rights during colonialism, doesn’t make them any better than other ethnicities, including Mestizos and Garinagu, as it pertains to the issue of moral damages. Denys Barrow, Attorney for Government of Belize “In relation to the matter of moral damage, there is the […]
This morning, dozens of men, women and children from thirty-eight indigenous communities in the south gathered at the Battlefield Park in anticipation of the CCJ’s ruling on the issue of Maya Land Rights. While they all stood around waiting for the decision to be handed down, another group showed up at the venue, placards in […]
Cristina Coc, spokesperson for the Maya Leaders Alliance, told News Five this afternoon that the objections raised by the gathering are merely statements of preference, since they are free to choose whichever form of land tenure they favor. Cristina Coc, Spokesperson, Maya Leaders Alliance “They are saying that they are not in support of […]
The People’s United Party has issued a release congratulating the Maya Leaders Alliance and the Toledo Alcaldes’ Association on the historic achievement of winning recognition from the Government of Belize on the issue of indigenous rights. The statement goes on to say that in 2000, the P.U.P. government entered into agreement with the Maya of […]
The embezzlement of over half-a-million dollars from the Treasury Department, an inside job that was unearthed a little over a week ago by officials within the Ministry of Finance, has set off a major investigation into this most recent financial crime. The scheme involved the misappropriation of two significant sums of monies, presumably by altering […]
A Corozal police man has been detained following allegations of a rape of a fourteen year old girl. On Monday evening, the minor and her mother visited the Corozal Police Station and reported that the girl was walking home in Altamira on Monday when she was offered a ride on a cycle by the cop. […]
There are still more questions than answers about the murder-suicide that happened over the weekend. In our story on Monday night, we told you about the tragic incident which resulted in the loss of two lives; thirty-year old Colleen Sharp and fifty-four-year old Michael Estell. But, what was the motive? And who killed whom? That’s […]
The Fin. Sec. and legal advisor, attorney Michael Young, have been making the media rounds trying to explain away the new law, which allows government to borrow and spend without House approval. In explaining how Belize draws funds from the Petrocaribe initiative this morning, Waight also commented on the Finance and Audit Reform Act and […]
And our question for tonight is: Do you think that there is a deliberate attempt to divide the unions? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com
Since the beginning of the week, the United Democratic Party’s legal adviser, Senior Counsel Michael Young, has been accompanying Financial Secretary Joe Waight on a series of media rounds to elucidate specific aspects of the Petrocaribe Law. As it is, there seems to be quite a lack of comprehension of the piece of legislation and […]
A well-known Ladyville couple was found dead inside their house in Ladyville, Belize District. When family members were unable to get in contact with them on Sunday, police were called. Inside the bathroom of the house, on the second floor of the building on the Old Coke Road, police would discover the bodies of fifty-four […]
The spate of violence over the weekend extended to the City where six persons were injured and one man was killed. The gun violence started as early as seven-thirty on Friday night on Banak Street, near its junction with Magazine Road. Within forty-five minutes, gunshots rang out on Curl Thompson Street and Central American Boulevard. […]
The Caribbean Court of Justice this morning commenced hearings for the first time in Belize, since its establishment in 2001. There are currently three other members, Barbados, Guyana and Dominica, is its newest member. And while the CCJ is headquartered in Trinidad, it is not the final court for that country. On its historic sitting, […]
The basis for the legal challenge, according to Courtenay, is the constitutionality of the court’s decision to incarcerate August for the remainder of his life. Equally, the case against August was based solely on the use of circumstantial evidence, a point of interest for Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, who did not disagree with […]
Just before ten this morning, political friction erupted in the Lake Independence area and police were called in to avert any violence. Residents and P.U.P. Standard Bearer, Cordel Hyde gathered at an abandoned structure, the property of Lake Independence Action Committee, which was the campaign office of Hyde and subsequently served as the venue for […]
