His arrest was part of last year’s hoopla surrounding Belize’s efforts to please Uncle Sam by pursuing cases of “human trafficking.” But today Jitendra Chawla, better known as Jack Charles, is a free man. The proprietor of Xtra House had all six counts of Unlawfully Withholding Travel Documents dismissed when Magistrate Margaret Gabb upheld a […]
Thirty-eight year old Arthur Wade, a resident of Crooked Tree Village, is cooling his heels at Hattieville prison tonight after he failed to meet bail on a Rape charge. The victim told police that around six on Monday evening, she met Wade by the village community centre and he asked her to take a short […]
A Belize City woman has been fined a hundred and fifty dollars for “Permitting an Unmuzzled Ferocious Dog to be at Large”. Thirty-seven year old Juanita Uter pled guilty to the seldom heard of offence today and has until February tenth to pay up or in default spend one month in jail. The charges against […]
And speaking of strange offences, for the second time in two months, a Belize City man has been found guilty of Exposing his Person in Public. This morning Magistrate Roberto Ordonez sentenced Tibruce Street resident fifty-eight year old Robert Howard to three months in jail for the uncalled for act. According to court reports, on […]
Meanwhile, another man accused of stealing was today convicted and sentenced to spend the next seven years behind bars. According to court reports, this morning the case against thirty-two year old Cecil Gill, also known as “G.I. Joe”, concluded with Magistrate Dorothy Flowers finding the defendant guilty of Robbery. Gill has three previous convictions for […]
Belize has a new Chief Magistrate and her name is Margaret Gabb. Effective tomorrow, Gabb will take over the duties of former Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord. Gabb began her career with the civil service in 1989, working as a summons clerk. She later served as Assistant Clerk of the Courts until she was appointed as […]
A man accused of murder will sleep at home tonight after living on remand for almost two years in Hattieville Prison. Today, twenty-four year old Charles Hinds was acquitted of the January 2005 murder of then twenty year old Arthur Crawford, who was fatally shot on Central American Boulevard. Although witnesses claimed to have heard […]
While crime sometimes seems to be rampant, the upcoming January sitting of the Supreme Court will have a slightly more relaxed workload. The Court is expected to hear forty-three cases including fourteen murders, six attempted murders, four rapes and five carnal knowledge cases, as well as some involving arson, incest, robbery and theft. Although the […]
While brothers Gerald and Troy Tillett are still recovering at the K.H.M.H. after being shot in a drive-by last week in Belize City, today police have charged one man in connection with the attack. Twenty-two year old Errol Haynes has been charged with Attempted Murder, Use of Deadly Means of Harm and Dangerous Harm. Those […]
A man and his girlfriend are in legal trouble tonight, the former charged with robbery and the latter for threatening the victim if she testified. Twenty-five year old Nicaraguan Luis Gomez is charged with robbing his ex-girlfriend, Elita Moody, in June of last year on Albert Street. He allegedly cornered her with the help of […]
In other court news, a Belize City youth has been remanded to prison for rape. This morning twenty-one year old Deon Neal was formally arraigned for the indictable offence before Magistrate Sharon Fraser. But when he appeared in court, Prosecutor Jackie Willoughby recognised the man as someone she has dealt with before for an alleged […]
In court news, a resident of the Cayo District accused of attempted murder is tonight a free man following the conclusion of his trial in the Supreme Court. According to court reports, just after six on Thursday evening, a jury of his peers found twenty-eight year old Henry Baptist not guilty of the attempted murder […]
The case of the crown versus Ben Bou-Nahra is back in the headlines tonight as in one of his final acts, Director of Public Prosecutions Kirk Anderson has upped the charge of manslaughter to murder. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports. Janelle Chanona, Reporting An arrest warrant has been issued for Belize City businessman Ben Bou-Nahra […]
Tonight a police officer accused of murder is out on bail following special proceedings on Saturday morning in the Supreme Court. According to court reports, Justice Troadio Gonzalez granted Police Constable Jesus Maroquin bail of twenty-five thousand dollars following arguments by the officer’s attorney, Dickie Bradley. Bradley pointed out that while Magistrates are prevented from […]
Amid the excitement of the holiday weekend, the wheels of justice continue to turn. In a special Saturday sitting, tomorrow Justice Troadio Gonzalez will listen to a plea for bail for accused murderer police constable Jesus Maroquin. This morning the officer’s attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley began arguments on Maroquin’s behalf but the matter was adjourned […]
He is on his way to a seat on the Supreme Court in the new year and in his final days as Chief Magistrate, Herbert Lord is digging deep into the lawbooks. Yesterday we reported on his fining of a recalcitrant witness for the seldom brought charge of Disobeying a Summons. Today he presided over […]
A young man who was convicted of Murder earlier this month has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Twenty-one year old Dionicio Salazar was found guilty of the June twenty-eighth, 2004 killing of Randy August. August was sitting on the banks of the Macal River in San Ignacio with his friend, Janelle Longsworth, when he was […]
On Tuesday’s newscast we quoted the pointed comments of Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh as he criticized Commissioner of Police Gerald Westby, for his apparent disregard of a D.P.P. directive to arrest a constable Jesus Maroquin for murder. Today, Westby told News Five that he has never tolerated wrongdoing on the part of his officers. Gerald […]
Police constable Jesus Maroquin was formally charged with murder this morning for the 2002 shooting of Egbert Gordon Jr., the mentally ill man who had barricaded himself in an unoccupied house at the Los Lagos subdivision. But while the arraignment was proceeding in front of Magistrate Dorothy Flowers, next door at the Supreme Court Chief […]
Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh was not the only member of the legal community with strong feelings about the belated arrest of Jesus Maroquin. Prior to her Supreme Court appearance we asked Antoninette Moore–attorney for the Gordon family–if the hastily organised arraignment pre-empted her constitutional arguments. Antoninette Moore, Gordon Family Attorney
For Egbert Gordon Senior, father of the victim, the case is far bigger than a single cop’s mistake. He believes that the shooting and subsequent cover up amount to a far reaching conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Egbert Gordon Sr., Father of Victim
Another U.S. citizen is in trouble with Belizean law enforcement tonight. Thirty-eight year old Mauricio Barraza is accused of torching his apartment, located at number three Mohammed Street. Barraza appeared in court today, but because arson is an indictable offence, no plea was taken. He was offered but did not meet bail of five thousand […]
A young mother has been charged with the seldom prosecuted crime of child neglect. Twenty-one year old Arlene Tillett of number three Lakeview Street was formally arraigned on the charge today before Magistrate Dorothy Flowers. According to police, on December fifteenth they received a call that a child was left home alone and that the […]
Disobeying a summons … It’s an act that happens often, much to the dismay of attorneys … but tonight they’re not letting a Belize City woman get away with it. Twenty-five year old Graciela Castillo was served with a summons to appear in court on December eleventh to testify against Burton Garoy, a defendant charged […]
It may not involve terrorism but two visitors to Belize are in a heap of trouble tonight as security officers at the Philip Goldson International Airport found a loaded pistol in their luggage. Forty-four year old Ryan Roark and forty-one year old Tichakorn Chaikumnerd, both of California, were charged with Keeping an Unlicensed Firearm and […]
