A Belize City man has been remanded for the attempted murder of Raheem Bailey last Friday. Bailey was the first of five persons injured during four separate shootings in the city. And today, twenty-three-year-old Deon Brackett was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith. This morning, Brackett, who walked from a murder in 2013, appeared […]
Tonight, a sentence handed down by Magistrate Deborah Rogers is under review by Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith, after it was learned that forty-two-year-old Cecil Franklin, no stranger to the law, had received a mere slap on the wrist for burglary. Franklin, also known as G.I. Joe, was sentenced to six weeks in prison after […]
Tonight, the mother of a new born is on remand at the Belize Central Prison after she was accused of stealing a wallet containing cash and personal items from a doctor on duty at the Emergency Section at the K.H.M.H. The theft was caught on surveillance camera last Wednesday and it led police the residence […]
This morning, there was heavy Police presence at the Family Court, with senior officers, Special Branch personnel and uniformed cops manning the perimeter of the building. It’s the type of resources pulled out for high-profile drug-related cases, but there was nothing like that before the Magistrate – just a very sensitive determination of the fate […]
Twenty-one year old Darrel Mayen is awaiting sentencing for attempted murder after he was found guilty of the charge in a trial by judge alone. Justice Troadio Gonzalez has deferred sentencing until February nineteenth, 2016 when he will hear mitigation plea on behalf of Mayen by his attorney, Oscar Selgado. The shooting incident occurred […]
After more than a month of intensive investigating and various visits to a catamaran that was robbed and burglarized on Middle Caye back in mid January of this year, police have lifted finger prints that link two Belize City men to the crime. Bradwick Lino and Jason Emmanuel Cortez were jointly charged for handling stolen goods. […]
Convictions for human trafficking are rare, but tonight a grandmother is behind bars for the offence. Honduran national Estella Gonzalez was convicted this morning in the Supreme Court by Justice Adolph Lucas. A panel of nine persons deliberated for a little over an hour on Wednesday night and just before eight o’clock unanimously found Gonzalez […]
While Johnson is free, a resident of Boston Village in the Belize District, Francisco Gomez, aka “Indiana” will be spending time behind bars. Gomez was convicted this morning of allegations made by an eleven-year old primary school girl of sexual assault of an indecent nature, assault and using threatening words against her. In trial, the […]
The unfortunate jurisdiction matter of baby Nina Barrera Perez, adjourned since December, was before Magistrate Dale Cayetano at the Family Court today. As very brief background, two year old Nina was seized from her mother’s home in Orange Walk in November. The intervention by the Human Services Department was done in the strength of an […]
After more than a year on remand and a number of adjournments, Troy Hyde accused of the murder of George Street’s Kareem Lopez, aka “Robbery” learnt today that he will have to stand trial. A preliminary inquiry took place this morning in the courtroom of Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith; Hyde was represented attorney Sheena […]
Tonight a police officer from the San Pedro is free from a charge of extortion after his accuser, a San Pedro resident, did not show up to court. Calvin Flowers alleged that Elvin Nah extorted four hundred dollars from him on July sixth, 2014. Flowers claimed that he was detained by the cop, while he […]
Honduran national, Orbin Reyes, who is an off and on resident of Orange Walk Town, claims he was used as a mule to transport over fifteen pounds of weed into Belize City and was paid a pittance. The twenty-five year old was detained on Saturday morning in a sting operation between miles eight and nine […]
A domestic dispute between a woman and her ex-common-law husband did not end well for both. The man was pepper sprayed and cut with a knife, while the woman is facing criminal charges for wounding him. Thirty-two year old Suzan Castellanos of Magazine Road, Belize City is accused of pepper spraying Martin Bahadur and injuring […]
Huong Chong Park, a Korean woman charged along with American Bradley Paumen, Lisburn Anderson and Jahangir Abadi last Wednesday, is the last of the bunch to be freed on bail. She was arraigned one week ago for the little known charge of Abetment of Crime to Pervert the Course of Justice, and was remanded until […]
As Bradley stated, Justice Gonzalez at one point in court clearly contemplated holding all Park’s assets in-country as bail. Just before granting bail, he was handed documents which represented a value of one point five million dollars. Perhaps Park’s willingness to take those extraordinary steps to secure freedom convinced Justice Gonzalez that she had no […]
A Belize City man is lucky to be out on bail tonight and luckier to be alive after he got drunk and slammed his red Ford Escape into a tree at Mile sixteen on the Phillip Goldson Highway. The accident happened very early this morning. When Ladyville Police responded to the scene they saw thirty-four-year-old […]
Today in court, Mark Lopez, a resident of Faber’s Road, Belize City was arraigned on a single charge of drug trafficking for ninety-four grams of cannabis. He appeared before Magistrate Deborah Rogers along with Aaron Reynolds of Biscayne Village. But Lopez may be in far more trouble because he is a suspect in the double […]
Gaspar Vega versus Ramon Cervantes Junior and Fiesta FM – the anxiously awaited decision in that sensational libel and slander suit was to be handed down today by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin. But it wasn’t. For the fifth time since December 2015, the matter was postponed. Attorneys we spoke to told us that no adjournment […]
Accused murderer and sexual predator Bert Vasquez was in Court today. Vasquez was accused of the murder of young Jasmine Lowe in 2012, but he is also accused of sexually abusing two girls as far back as 2011. Vasquez has been on remand since 2012 and it is expected that his substantive trial in at […]
While Vasquez is accused of violent and heinous sexual offences, by far the more serious charge is for the murder of Jasmine Lowe. Lowe’s decomposed body was discovered days after she was reported missing and shortly after, Vasquez was arrested for the crime. It’s an interesting case since a medical examination on Lowe’s body could […]
Earlier this week, Daniel Anderson was acquitted of the murder of Joyce Mitchell in a trial by judge without jury. Today, a second murder trial by judge alone concluded before Supreme Court Judge, Troadio Gonzalez; but Byron James of Belize City is still to learn his fate. James was the suspect in the murder of […]
The relief on Bradley Paumen’s face was clear this afternoon as Justice Antoinette Moore granted him Supreme Court bail. Paumen has spent seven nights behind bars awaiting a process which took less than ten minutes today. The American investor and owner of Dark Night tours appeared in Court last Thursday to face charges related to […]
Another man who spent seven nights behind bars with Paumen is Lisburn Anderson. He also received bail today from Justice Moore in the sum of fifteen thousand dollars and two sureties in the same amount. Anderson is the mechanic who allegedly placed the firearm in Michael Modiri’s vehicle on behalf of Paumen. His arraignment was […]
There was an acquittal today in a trial by judge without jury. Thirty-two year old Daniel Anderson of Belize City walked out of court as a free man following his acquittal for murder. Anderson was behind bars for more than five years for the murder of Joyce Mitchell, who was gunned down while sitting in […]
The Supreme Court today finished hearing a case that could have impact on the employment of so-called “open vote workers”, those persons who work for Government, but not under formal contract or in a permanent capacity in the Public Service. Former Ministry of Education employee Melissa Belezaire Tucker was employed for seventeen years, from 1995 […]
