After what seems like months of seeing accused sexual predators set free for lack of proper prosecution the tide seems to have turned … at least for this week. Yesterday David McKoy received an eight year sentence for attempted rape and today another man with more lust than brains is spending the night behind bars. […]
A thirty-one year old man has been sentenced to the minimum of eight years in prison after being found guilty of attempted rape. The twenty-four year old victim testified in the court of Justice Troadio Gonzalez that David McKoy unsuccessfully tried to engage in sexual intercourse with her at a house party in Belmopan in […]
While David McKoy may have received an eight year sentence for his crime, chances are if he behaves himself he’ll be back on the streets in less than three. The process is called parole and the prison’s Parole Board met yesterday and approved twenty-six out of the fifty-three applications. Among those rejected by the board […]
A man, who escaped from a prison bus last month but later turned himself in, has died–perhaps as the result of drinking contaminated water while on the run. Although the results of a post mortem have not yet reached News Five, the sister of deceased prisoner Casey Allen says medical authorities suspect that Allen may […]
Vance Cabral, the tour operator accused of negligence in the death of a diver and causing great trauma to three others, has had his license revoked for a minimum of five more years. A release from the Belize Tourism Board states that the Tour Operators Licensing Committee, following a November second meeting, reconvened today to […]
One week after police shot him in the left ankle, twenty-four year old Leonard Myers, a.k.a. “Ghost,” was released from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and taken straight over to Magistrate’s Court. Myers, unassisted by the police, managed to hop his way up the steps and into the holding cell area where he waited to […]
The alleged triggerman in the shooting of James Young Sr. and Kenneth “Big Tom” Flowers has been arrested and charged. Twenty-two year old Alpheus Smith has been jointly charged with Brian Brown, who was arraigned yesterday. Smith was read three counts of Attempted Murder and two counts each of Dangerous Harm and Use of Deadly […]
Those who have experienced the loss of a loved one know how deep the pain can reach. But how do you describe the feeling when you not only have to cope with a death but the additional complication of never finding the body of the deceased. That’s the dilemma faced by the family of a […]
A Belize City father and son walked out of court free men this afternoon, cleared of kidnapping charges following their trial in the Supreme Court. Thirty-four year old Oscar Bonilla and his fifty-eight year old father Manuel Chinchilla, were arrested following a report in April 2005 by twenty-two year old Alex Bautista. At the time, […]
A convicted murderer on death row has had his sentence reduced. Adolph Harris, convicted of murder for the 1995 killing of Lavern Orosco, will now serve twenty years in jail instead of experiencing the finality of the hangman’s noose. Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh accepted the arguments of attorneys Simeon Sampson and Antoinette Moore that Harris’s […]
In May, the double murder of Kevin and Phillip Brannon rocked Belize City to its core as the crime pitted southside victims against northside shooters. And as News Five’s Jacqueline Godwin reports, the latest developments in case have not helped to ease tension in the streets. Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting Today, one of the year
He was accused of jacking more than fourteen thousand dollars from the Income Tax Department, but following proceedings in court today, all charges were dismissed against the defendant. Twenty-four year old David Longsworth was charged with robbery and handling stolen goods following the armed robbery of the tax office in Belize City on July twenty-seventh. […]
A man who pled guilty to manslaughter last month received his sentence today following pleas for mitigation. Twenty year old Andre Swazo was originally charged with murder in the April 2005 killing of Merton Castillo but last month agreed to a plea bargain conviction for manslaughter. Following favourable character testimony by Ports Commissioner Lloyd Jones, […]
Two and a half years after a brutal killing in San Ignacio, a young man has been convicted of murder. At three thirty this afternoon, a jury found twenty-one year old Dionicio Salazar guilty by unanimous verdict of the murder of twenty-two year old Randy August. August was hacked to death with a machete by […]
A witness booked for perjury has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Twenty-six year old Frederick Arzu was ordered arrested after he was caught giving a false alibi at the trial of his friend and former cellmate Ernest Hinds. This time around Arzu thought twice before lying under oath and admitted to his bogus testimony. […]
Two men accused in separate robberies have been arraigned in Belize City Magistrate’s Court. In the first case, eighteen year old Leon Yorke pleaded not guilty to Robbery, Resisting Arrest, Assaulting a Police Officer and two counts of Aggravated Assault this morning before Magistrate Sharon Fraser. Yorke was granted bail in the sum of four […]
He may be an escaped convict on the run, but that did not stop Ernest Hinds from being convicted and sentenced for an assortment of crimes. Today Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord found the twenty-seven year old Hinds and twenty-three year old Joseph Almendarez, who was in court, guilty of Attempted Robbery, Using Deadly Means of […]
A former prisoner accused of attempted murder was set free today because the victim and eight other witnesses refused to testify against him. According to court reports, in June 2004, twenty-three year old Jeffrey Flowers was accused of stabbing another inmate, Dennis Hyde, with the metal handle of a bucket that had been fashioned into […]
Belize City Magistrate’s Court was under heavy security this morning following reports of a planned attack against one of today’s defendants. That accused, identified as thirty-two year old Arthur Young, was in court to answer to charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. The prosecution was ready to start trial today but Young’s […]
Meanwhile, today in the Supreme Court another case crumbled for want of prosecution. According to court reports, twenty-one year old Andre Trapp, accused of Attempted Murder, Use of Deadly Means of Harm, Dangerous Harm, and Aggravated Assault, walked down Regent Street a free man after crown counsel Kamar Henry told the court that the prosecution […]
Precedent over the legality a fence was set in July 2003 in the case of the Belize City Council versus Brian Brown. Authorities broke down the wall around Brown’s yard on the basis that it was higher than Council regulations allowed. But in the subsequent Supreme Court trial, Brown won his case as his attorney, […]
A man caught on camera trying to break into a lawyer’s home has been sentenced to seven and a half years behind bars. Thirty-one year old Dennis Quilter was found guilty of the June 2006 attempted burglary of Emil Arguelles’ house on the Northern Highway. On Thursday Arguelles testified that when he got home that […]
An accused child sex offender walked out of court a free man today because no case file could be presented to the judge. According to court reports, thirty-five year old mason Bert Abraham was accused in January 2005 for having sex with a fourteen year old girl. Abraham was subsequently charged with four counts of […]
She was already charged with perjury for the alleged flip flops in her testimony at the Gabby Affif passport trial. Now Ursula Hill has been hit with six counts each of Forgery of Official Documents, Possession of False Documents and Uttering a False Document. The charges relate to six applications for nationality that she allegedly […]
A man charged with Murder today pled guilty to a reduced charge of Manslaughter. Twenty year old Andre Swazo shot Merton Castillo on April thirtieth of last year following an argument that centered on Castillo’s alleged disrespecting of his girlfriend, who is Swazo’s sister. Prosecutor Kamar Henry justified the plea bargain to Justice Troadio Gonzales […]
