More than five years after he stabbed Christie Carrasco to death, Osmar Sabido was today sentenced to life in prison for the crime. The lengthy judgment was read into record by Justice Herbert Lord as family members of the victim packed the courtroom. Outside, friends of the Carrasco family stood silently, waiting in shirts marked […]
In cases we’ve covered, sentencing would usually be reserved pending mitigation pleas on behalf of the convicted. But in this case sentencing was immediate, as requested by Selgado after conferring with his client. Selgado says that it is almost certain that the matter will be appealed, but either way, a life sentence does not necessarily […]
A Belize City man was linked to a burglary after CIB personnel lifted a finger print from the home of the victim whose house was burglarized. The alleged burglar, Tyrone Myers, was arraigned in court, before Magistrate Deborah Rogers and read a single charge of burglary. Allegations are that on February first, the house of […]
Nicholas Swazo, the man accused of killing Gerald ‘Shiny’ Tillett last Saturday in Dangriga, has been arraigned on a number of charges related to the deadly weekend shooting. As we reported previously, Swazo was shot twice in the back during a savage attack at the Wadani Shed which left Tillett dead and three others, including […]
A case of domestic dispute ended today before Justice Troadio Gonzalez. After pleading guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, Kim Royaline Brannon, who is now forty-five years, learnt her fate in her retrial. Brannon was accused of killing her common law-husband, Anthony Herrera, on December eighteenth, 2008 at their Burrell Boom house. In the […]
Three years ago, Denny Grijalva, the U.D.P. Orange Walk standard bearer, his wife Emelda and their foreman, Javier Nunez were found to be excavating limestone from the Mayan site Noh Mul to be used in the construction of roads. They were taken to court for causing the destruction of a Mayan site, this week they […]
As many as nineteen persons have been charged in connection with the home invasion of Lebanese Honorary Consul Sarkis Bou Nehra in early December 2015. In the robbery in Burrell Boom, Belize District, a number of items were stolen including guns and household items of significant value. Some of the items have since been recovered, […]
Twenty-year-old Austin Gabourel is tonight behind bars accused of murdering a Caye Caulker resident over the weekend. Late this afternoon, Gabourel was read a single charge of murder for the April seventeenth murder of Leon Gordon. He appeared unrepresented in the courtroom of the Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith and was remanded to the Belize […]
The Felix brothers, Maurice and Emory, will have to stand trial for the murder of Mark Gentle and attempted murder of Pamela Cumberbatch at the June session of the Supreme Court. Gentle, the son of the deceased, Pamela as well as her husband, Calvin Cumberbatch were both shot on May twenty-fifth 2015; Gentle died ten […]
After three years of constant adjournments and delays, U.D.P. Orange Walk Central political caretaker Denny Grijalva was found guilty, along with his wife Emelda Grijalva and Project manager Javier Nunez. They had been charged with Willful Damage to an Ancient Monument and Removing of Earth from an Ancient Monument in May of 2013, after it […]
The next step will be mitigation pleas followed by sentencing. But here’s the thing. Under the NICH Act, Grijalva could face fines of up to ten thousand dollars. Banner says is really nothing considering the damage that was done and considering the fact that Grijalva likely made many times that amount from the contract to […]
Police Constables Hallet King and Leonard Nunez were the two officers charged for the vicious killing of eighteen year old Baptist High School student Hilberto Sotz inside the police station on Caye Caulker. They were arraigned for the murder one day later in Belize City on June ninth, 2015, but ten months later on April […]
A former employee at the Post Office in Belize is spending his first night behind bars. Thirty-two-year old Sergio Alonso Patt, of San Jose Village, Orange Walk Town was arraigned today on six counts of theft from the Government Postal Services in Belize City. As we reported last week, Patt was accused of stealing twenty-thousand […]
In January 2016, the Supreme Court ordered GOB to pay nine million dollars in compensation to principals of Titan International Securities for an unlawful raid and seizure. In September 2014, acting at the request of the U.S., the Financial Intelligence Unit and Police descended on the offices of Titan and Unicorn International Securities at the […]
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the violations did take place, the issue of quantum of damages will be dealt with. Young says that his client will certainly be seeking relief – both on compensatory and vindicatory bases. At this point it’s only a matter of getting directions from the Court as to […]
On Friday, charges against two police constables were downgraded from murder to manslaughter. PCs Hallet King and Leonard Nunez were accused of killing eighteen year old Hilberto Sotz, while he was detained at the Caye Caulker Police Station. Sotz was badly beaten and taken to the polyclinic, but died within hours of his detention. Both […]
Sotz killing prompted riots on Caye Caulker and the family believes that the wheels of justice are not turning. The two cops were also granted bail of two thousand dollars each. Hilberto was to graduate from Baptist High School in the west when his life was cut short ten months ago. Santorino Sotz, Father […]
Back in June 2015, police charged two officers on duty at the Caye Caulker police station with the murder of eighteen-year-old Hilberto Sotz who was killed while in police custody. Today, after ten months on remand, in a directive the DPP’s office instructed that the charge of murder be downgraded to manslaughter against police officers […]
A year ago, gunmen executed forty-year old Edward “Ghost” Usher, a resident of Mayflower Street while he was on the steps of his house in the Ghost Town area in Belize City. Police detained teenager, Percival Pilgrim, as the gunman in the broad daylight shooting. At the conclusion of a preliminary inquiry for Pilgrim today, […]
Tonight we can report that there is some progress in the investigation of an allegation of a disturbing crime in Dangriga. Police have been encountering difficulties in getting a formal complaint from a minor who was allegedly sexually violated by her stepfather on March thirty-first at her home. The minor has cerebral palsy, and cannot […]
On February fifth, 2016 Korean Huong Chong Park received Supreme Court bail after more than a week in jail. Park was charged for the little known crime of Abetment of Crime to Pervert the Course of Justice, for her involvement in the very sensational Bradley Paumen case. Park’s bail was set high, but the Judge […]
Forty-four-year old Javier Saragossa, a Belize City taxi man, picked up a conviction for reckless driving but he must go to trial for the offense of failure to provide a urine sample. Saragossa initially pleaded guilty to both charges saying he did want to waste time going back and forth in court but he was […]
Yolanda Valencia was killed in August 2014 when an intoxicated deputy Commissioner of Police Miguel Segura, in a government vehicle, collided into a taxi just outside San Jose Succotz, Cayo. The chilling video of Segura at the scene of the accident went viral and prompting public outrage. The market vendor died instantly, and in August […]
Former People’s United Party Secretary General Myrtle Palacio appeared before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin today, after filing a civil suit against the Guardian Newspaper. The case originates from an article and a cartoon published in the U.D.P. party organ purportedly depicting Palacio as someone who practices witchcraft. She took umbrage with the piece of writing, […]
In court this morning, Palacio gave a sworn statement. The article and the accompanying cartoon were also tendered as evidence. The argument, however, brings to the fore the issue of fair comment, a legal term for a common law defense in defamation cases involving libel or slander. Said Musa, Attorney for Myrtle Palacio “Mrs. […]
