Another suspect, accused of the murder of seventeen-year-old Cameron Hernandez in November 2021, has been freed of the charge after spending eleven months at the Belize Central Prison on pretrial detention. Shaquille Perrera appeared unrepresented before Chief Magistrate Sharon Fraser this morning, where he was informed that the charge had been withdrawn on the instruction […]
Thirty-one-year-old Nicholi Rhys beat a murder charge in court earlier today, after spending almost four years on pretrial detention at the Belize Central Prison. Rhys was accused of the shooting death of Jose Moh, a cab driver who was killed near the Eight Mile community. Represented by attorney Leeroy Banner, a no case submission was […]
The Orange Walk Magistrate Court is hearing an application for further retention of funds by the Financial Intelligence Unit. The F.I.U. has applied to have the court grant permission for them to keep in their possession, for an additional three months, over three million dollars seized from the Caribbean International Brewery Company Limited’s compound on […]
We also heard from Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith. Following his first day on the case, he says that he is satisfied that the seizure of three point one million dollars was lawful, and that there are grounds for the magistrate to rule in favor of the F.I.U.’s application. Smith’s confidence is based on the argument […]
All indications are that despite the outcome of the hearing in the Orange Walk Magistrate Court, the matter will be taken to the Supreme Court for a verdict. As for the gravity of the case, both senior counsels on different sides of the courtroom are former attorney generals of Belize. As we said, Smith was […]
Earlier this week, we told you about the multi-agency operation at Caribbean International Brewery Limited that yielded three point one million dollars in cash. The raid on the premises just outside of Carmelita Village also led to the detention of several Asian nationals for alleged immigration offenses. Since then, the Financial Investigation Unit has filed […]
Inspector Gian Young, a member of the Belize Police Department’s Anti Trafficking in Persons Unit was the first witness to take the stand. According to Young’s testimony, on October sixth, the joint agency taskforce comprised of immigration officers, labor personnel, and members of the Belize Police Department, conducted a search on the company’s administration building […]
Senior Counsel Barrow raised a preliminary objection to the application brought forth by the F.I.U. He contended that the F.I.U. is not entitled to make an application under the Money Laundering and Terrorism Prevention Act, an objection which Magistrate Debbie Rogers did not uphold. Here is Barrow’s response to Magistrate Roger’s ruling. Dean Barrow, […]
A donation of over four hundred thousand dollars in digital equipment was handed over to the courts this morning by the U.S. Embassy. As part of an initiative known as the Backlog Reduction Program, the governments of Belize and the United States have been working closely to moderate the number of surfeit cases in the […]
For the first time in recent memory, a person who is accused of murder will be brought before the Supreme Court to be tried a second time, after having gone before all levels of the court system during her previous trial. Calaney Flowers, accused of the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Lyndon Morrison in August 2012, […]
Thirty-four-year-old Alexander Harris, a Belizean fisherman of San Ignacio, has been fined seventeen thousand dollars for possession of undersized conch. Harris and two other fishermen from Dangriga were busted by fisheries personnel onboard a vessel east of the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. It is alleged that on October fourth, the trio, including forty-eight-year-old Juan Carlos Palacio […]
Former Belize Defense Force soldier Albert Moreira was the last person to see his ex-wife alive before she went missing in October 2018. Several days later, the badly decomposed body of Felina James was discovered along the Coastal Road approximately two and a half miles from La Democracia Village. Not far from her corpse was […]
The Government of Belize has retained the services of Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck in a civil case being brought against the Commissioner of Police, the Attorney General, and the Belize Police Department by Police Constable Alicia Trapp. As we have reported, attorney Orson “OJ” Elrington sued all three parties on behalf of his client, after […]
Thirty-nine-year-old Leon Perez will stand trial for the murder of Elton Morter who was fatally stabbed during an altercation in Hattieville on Independence Day 2021. In court on Monday, Perez was represented by attorney Ian Gray during a preliminary inquiry before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford that ended in a committal to the Supreme Court. The […]
Case management in the kidnapping trial involving William “Danny” Mason, Ashton Vanegas, Kieron Fernandez, Ernest Castillo, and Ryan Rhaburn is set to begin with a voir dire. The alleged victims in this case are businessman Lloyd Thiessen and his wife. The men are accused of kidnapping the couple after a business deal with Mason went […]
Forty-five-year-old Ervin Middleton, a windshield repairman of a Santa Barbara Street address, appeared unrepresented before the magistrate’s court earlier today where he was read a single, indictable charge of rape of a child. It is alleged that two years ago, sometime during September 2020, he forced a thirteen-year-old girl into having sexual intercourse with him. […]
On May twentieth, the Caribbean Court of Justice declared that the re-incarceration of Hillaire Sears in April 2014 had breached his constitutional right to personal liberty and that the revocation of his parole by the Parole Board in May 2014 breached his constitutional rights to both personal liberty and equal protection of the law. Most […]
This afternoon around two-thirty p.m., four suspects were paraded to the magistrate’s court in Dangriga by armed police and B.D.F. officers. Prior to their arraignment, they were being held in police custody after being apprehended along the Southern Highway near Silk Grass Village on Monday evening. It is alleged that the men are responsible for […]
Belize City police are continuing their investigation into the murder of former P.I.V. boss, Darien Banks. The Oleander Street resident was slain last Monday when someone took aim at him and shot him in cold blood. But their investigation into the homicide has led them to one individual, an employee of the National Sports Council, […]
In the wee hours of March fourteenth, 2016, Edwin Ixpatac was beaten to death while in police custody in San Pedro Town. In the wake of the incident, three police officers: PCs Reydel Teck, Jahsimir Cob and Romelio Logan were charged with murder. Today, the trio appeared before Justice Ricardo Sandcroft in a trial by […]
Canadian national Jasmine Hartin has lost the custody battle for the five-year-old twins she shares with Andrew Ashcroft. News Five has confirmed that on Wednesday, Director of the Belize Family Court, Dale Cayetano handed down a decision, granting legal custody of the children to Andrew Ashcroft. That decision was handed down at the Belize Family […]
Brads Gaming Company Limited is challenging the Government of Belize over a recent amendment to the Lotteries Control Regulations which legislates a twelve point five percent tax on boledo, lottery, and jackpot. PM Briceño reasons that the new tax will see the government collect millions of dollars in revenue. He criticized the former administration for […]
In December 2002, Hillaire Sears was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after being convicted of the murder. That conviction was later reduced to manslaughter before Sears was subsequently released on parole ten years later. But while on parole and working at the Belize Central Prison in 2014, Sears was subjected to a […]
According to Mendez, the case involving Hillaire Sears highlights a number of issues within the criminal justice system. Leslie Mendez, Attorney-at-law “I think it’s important for us to also look at the manner in which parole was revoked. So Hillaire was working at the prison while on parole and it was while he was […]
A man who was found guilty of murder has been sentenced to thirteen years imprisonment in the southern session of the Supreme Court. Andre Valle Diaz was convicted of the murder of Kelvin Hernandez on August nineteenth, 2019 in Hope Creek Village, Stann Creek. Hernandez was chopped to death near a basketball court in the […]
