As the Human Development Department grapples with the growing number of reported sexual abuse cases, there are reports tonight that one Belize City mother may have tried to use the system to get her common law husband in trouble. In the courtroom of Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord this morning a defendant appeared to answer to […]
The trial of Gabby Affif continues this week in the Belize City Supreme Court. In testimony on Tuesday, former immigration officer Ursula Hill told the jury that after leaving the department in 1999, she started working with the defendant and his wife at the Beirut Trading Centre on Queen Street. On examination from Director of […]
The long-delayed trial of Gabby Affif began this morning in the courtroom of Justice Adolph Lucas. Affif is charged with five counts of possession of false official documents; six counts of uttering a false official document, and five counts of forgery of an official document, all in connection with the illegal sale of Belizean nationality. […]
A burglar’s plea for leniency fell on deaf ears when Magistrate Margaret Gabb-McKenzie sentenced him to five years in prison. In court this morning Armond Pilgrim was informed by the magistrate that there is nothing in his criminal record which would make her consider a lesser sentence since he has three previous convictions. The twenty-four […]
A youth accused of that popular crime of cell phone theft will also spend the next five years in prison. This morning twenty-one year old Bernard Smith and a fifteen year old appeared before Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord for the continuation of their trial, but halfway through the proceedings Smith decided to plead guilty to […]
Today police arrested and charged a third officer in connection with the sex scandal involving a fifteen year old girl. Twenty-three year old Detective Police Constable Jeremiah Usher was this evening arraigned in Magistrate’s Court for carnal knowledge. In a statement to police, the minor, who is now three months pregnant, referred to Jeremiah UsherCbetter […]
A man given away by his dentures and his own testimony in court has been sentenced to ten years behind bars for robbery. Today Gary White appeared before Magistrate Harry Hulett undefended and gave details of the September 2005, Highway Grocery hold-up that only the actual robber would have know. The owner of the shop […]
It happens more often than we’d like but is not always brought to the attention of authorities. Tonight, a Belize City man has been arrested for threatening a witness in a criminal trial. Twenty-three year old Arthur Higgs, a horse and carriage driver working out of the Tourism Village, has been charged with “attempted suppression […]
A Belize City man accused of attempted murder has plea bargained his way to a lesser charge. This morning when Norman Mitchell appeared before Justice Troadio Gonzales for the continuation of his trial, the undefended forty-seven year old asked the court if he could instead plead guilty to dangerous harm. Prosecutor Kamar Henry agreed to […]
The full moon may have lent a magic quality to the night enveloping the hills of Cayo but for one resident of Santa Elena, Thursday’s moonlight foreshadowed only death. This morning I travelled west to unravel the details of a murder that appears to be the result of jealousy. Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting Police investigations have […]
He officially became an adult on Sunday, but instead of a celebration, Travis Arnold is facing jail time. A jury of six men and six women deliberated for just under two hours today before finding Arnold not guilty of murder, but guilty of the alternate charge of manslaughter. Justice Adolph Lucas has set May twelfth […]
A postman accused of mail tampering was today fined over twelve thousand dollars in Magistrate’s Court. Thirty-one year old Belize City resident Brian Luna today opted to plead guilty to ten of the twelve charges, telling the court “my family is going through a lot of pressure because of this case. I just need some […]
Charges were dropped today against a Belize City youth accused of robbing the Princess Hotel of over thirty thousand dollars. The action was taken this morning in the course of an application for bail for twenty-one year old Leon Rodriguez. During the presentation by attorney Dickie Bradley, Justice Troadio Gonzalez concluded that there was not […]
A life sentence has been handed down to the convicted killer of a Belize City businessman. During proceedings in the Supreme Court this morning, Justice Troadio Gonzalez told twenty-one year old Jermaine Pascascio and the rest of the court “I have considered all the mitigating factors put before the court that the accused was sorry, […]
A convicted killer will have to wait two more days to hear his fate after sentencing was delayed today in the Belize City Supreme Court. Twenty-one year old Jermaine Pascascio was found guilty of the murder of Inez “Blankie” Leal in early February and was scheduled to be sentenced today. However, following mitigation pleas by […]
The Director of Public Prosecutions has abandoned legal action against a thirty year old man and a sixteen year old girl, charged with sexual offences. According to court reports, when Hattieville residents Mark Neal and the minor appeared in the Supreme Court today, Crown Counsel Marjorie Moyston entered a nolle prosequi motion, thereby allowing the […]
A sixty-two year old Belize City man has been found guilty of the sexual assault of an eleven year old girl. Emilio Blanco, a resident of Vernon Street, was today sentenced to three years in jail for aggravated assault and another one year for harm. The sentences, however, are to run concurrently. The minor reported […]
A coroner’s inquest has concluded that former police officer Aldo Ayuso must stand trial in the Supreme Court for the death of Leslie Rogers Jr. in 2005. Witnesses who testified at the inquest gave conflicting reports about the shooting; some saying Rogers had a gun, others that there was no gun. One person even claimed, […]
We have only just received the judgement via email, but even a quick perusal indicates that today in Miami, Federal Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages has finally closed the book on what had been one of the Belize Government’s most embarrassing moments: the finding that G.O.B. was in contempt of court in the B.T.L. case for failing […]
In the Supreme Court, Justice Adolph Lucas today issued warrants for five defendants. The five persons whom Lucas is seeking to arrest are Manolo Romero accused of arson, Leonardo Zacaria for attempted murder; Gerson Barrera, charged with carnal knowledge; Norman Cal for aggravated burglary, and Sergio Casteneda accused of manslaughter by negligence. According to court […]
A Belize City man has been sentenced to seven years in Hattieville Prison. Today twenty-seven year old Omar Nicholas appeared before Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord, where he was found guilty of aggravated burglary and given his jail time. The charge arose from an incident on December fifth, 2005. According to Nicholas’s ex common-law wife, Vaceli […]
Two men have been picked up in connection with a robbery attempt at a bar on Central American Boulevard last week. Joseph Almendarez and Ernest Hinds, both twenty three, have been charged with attempted robbery, three counts of aggravated assault and unlicensed firearm offences after a thirty-eight caliber revolver and ammunition were found at a […]
Charges against three alleged sex offenders from the Cayo district were today dismissed in the Supreme Court. The first case involves twenty-nine year old Jason Warrior, charged with the February, 2003 rape of a sixteen year old girl. When Warrior appeared before Justice Adolph Lucas this morning for trial, he was instead discharged because the […]
Despite having a battery of weapons, masks, surgical gloves, and a bullet proof vest inside the vehicle they were accused of stealing, three men were acquitted of all charges on Thursday in the Supreme Court. The D.P.P.’s office had charged Micah Thompson, Brian Hererra, and Sheldon Tillett with the seldom used “preparation to commit murder” […]
A Belize City businessman has been sentenced for fatally shooting his employee. This morning Edward Reyes, convicted of manslaughter for the death of Norman “Butta” Ferguson, appeared in court for mitigation and sentencing. Ten persons gave statements on his behalf before Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh sentenced the butcher to seven years in prison. On January […]
