Belize City fruit vendor, Darren Dawson, was spared jail time after he changed his plea from not guilty to guilty today when he presented himself before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford. The thirty-three-year-old father of two faced a charge of kept firearm and ammunition without a gun license. Before being sentenced, Dawson told the senior magistrate […]
Thirty-two-year-old Blanca Benitez Yanes has been sent to prison for six months. Yanes appeared before Magistrate Tricia Pitts Anderson this morning on a charge of failure to produce a visitor’s permit. It is for an offence which happened on Monday of this week when an immigration officer asked to see her permit and she was […]
A trio of men was escorted to court this morning for the brazen heist that evolved into a hostage situation in Belize City on Sunday night. The three: Wayne Welch, Steven Bernard and Richard O’Neil are facing a slew of charges. They are accused of robbing Rong Bin Liang and his wife, the proprietors of […]
There are as many as twelve judges on the Supreme Court bench, however, with the recent retirements of Justices Denis Hanomansingh and Adolph Lucas, two seats are presently available. Both distinguished judicial officers have served in the high court, but it was Justice Lucas’ diligence and career path which began with him joining the police […]
Will the high-profile case involving accused murderer William ‘Danny’ Mason be heard in the Supreme Court this year? Mason is one of seventy-four inmates on pretrial detention at the Belize Central Prison who has been incarcerated since 2016. During the ceremonial opening of the 2019 legal calendar, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin, in addressing the court, […]
The 2019 sitting of the Supreme Court opened this morning with the fanfare that traditionally accompanies the event. The address on the administration of justice was delivered by Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington on behalf of the Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte. The Chief Justice reviewed and reflected on the work of the court. He noted that […]
Twenty-five-year-old Honduran national Josue Danilo Villatoro Amado was transported from San Pedro to Belize City and arraigned for the murder of Corporal Alfonso Guy. This afternoon, Villatoro, who is a waiter and food and beverage employee at Captain Morgan’s Place, was arraigned before newly appointed Magistrate Tricia Pitts Anderson and remanded to prison until February […]
Thirty-nine-year-old Garry Yearwood is out on bail of ten thousand dollars after having been remanded on January fourth for aggravated assault. This morning, the B.T.L. employee appeared before Justice Collin Williams where he applied for bail. He is accused of brandishing a licensed firearm and making threats to his former common-law wife, thirty-one-year-old Royann Riverol. […]
According to the career lawman, Riverol could not have been in fear of her life if she tailed her former common-law husband from Belize City to Los Lagos and then struck him repeatedly. Insp. Fitzroy Yearwood, Brother of Garry Yearwood “If you are in fear of your life would you drive fourteen miles behind […]
Also from the courts…Anthony Bennett-Velasquez will have to stand trial for murder of Erbin Garrido, which occurred in May 2018. The thirty-eight-year-old Belize City resident is accused of killing Garrido inside his home and on Friday, during a preliminary inquiry before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford, Bennett was committed to stand trial. Bennett-Velasquez appeared unrepresented and […]
A grocer was robbed on Friday night after nine-thirty. Police say they have two persons detained and are looking for another in connection with the robbery of Plum Tree store at thirty-four East Canal in Belize City. ASP Alejandro Cowo says the robbers stole cash, as well as firearm. ASP Alejandro Cowo, O.C., C.I.B., […]
Belize is named as part of the network of the Sinaloa Drug cartel. It came during the trial of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, head of the infamous drug cartel, which is underway in the United States. The elusive leader, Mexico’s top drug kingpin, escaped from a maximum-security prison in July, 2015 and was recaptured on […]
Today, twenty-seven-year-old Windell Humes was arraigned on a single charge of burglary with intent to rape when he appeared in court before Magistrate Emmerson Banner. Humes, who was unrepresented, pleaded not guilty to the charge and told the court that he wasn’t the one who was inside the woman’s room. He accused the Caye Caulker […]
There are updates on three other murders on New Year’s Day. Twenty-six-year-old Giovanni Jones was also charged with the murder of fifty-eight-year-old Howard Coleman. Jones, a resident of the Lucky Strike Village, appeared before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford and remanded to prison until March twentieth. The sensational killing of the Coleman was the first murder […]
Thirty-five-year-old Angel Rueben Cassasola has been arraigned for the murder of Anita Pineda, his ex-common-law wife. He was taken to court this morning in San Ignacio and was remanded to the Belize Central Prison until March fifth. Cassasola reportedly stabbed Pineda once to the chest on New Year’s night while she and her mother were […]
Four men were busted on Cran Street, Belize City by the police on Wednesday. The foursome, who were found with a loaded firearm and thirteen live rounds of ammunitions; however, are in more trouble with the law and are presently being detained at the Queen Street Police Station pending investigations in the murder of Joseph […]
Attorney Andrew Bennett was back before the lower court today where he is presently fighting an extradition request by the U.S. government. It is alleged that the lawyer participated in a scheme where local high-level bankers and politicians were purportedly setting up money laundering businesses on behalf of drug trafficking organizations. The ill-gotten monies, it […]
A thirty-year-old man is on remand tonight for sexually assaulting a twelve-year-old girl. Allegations are that this is the second time he committed the offense, but the most recent was on December third when the aunt of the child caught him in the act. Santiago Carrillo Junior was charged and arraigned this morning for sexual […]
Another man was arraigned for sexual assault upon a minor and denied bail. Thirty-nine-year-old John Henry is accused of touching the breast of an eleven-year-old girl on November thirtieth. Henry pleaded not guilty to the charge of sexual assault and, like Carrillo, Magistrate Banner denied him bail and he was remanded into custody at the Belize […]
Magistrate Emerson Banner also dealt with the case of seasoned criminal, forty-five-year-old Leopold Stevens of Lord’s Bank, Ladyville. Stevens was charged for a burglary committed on October thirtieth. He is accused of entering the BWS compound and stealing an assortment of items in the offices of Hugh Kennedy Crawford Construction Services. Stevens pleaded not guilty […]
In the Supreme Court this morning, two men were sentenced in high profile cases. Justice Adolph Lucas sentenced Ernest Thurton Junior, known as “Dangalang,” to life imprisonment, but the twenty-six-year-old must serve twenty-nine years before he is eligible for parole for the double murder of Robert Young and Frank James. The murder goes back to […]
Also in the Supreme Court….thirty-five-year-old Bert Vasquez learnt his fate today for a second sexual assault case. Justice Colin Williams imposed the sentence ordering that it run consecutively with his previous ten-year conviction for the offense of forcible abduction, sexual assault, and harm against a sixteen-year-old minor, which was imposed on him by Justice Adolph […]
A Ladyville resident was taken to court this morning and arraigned for the rape and robbery of a U.S. national. The heinous crime occurred in broad daylight in the Vista Del Mar area last week Thursday. Thirty-one-year-old Adam Meighan was arraigned before Magistrate Albert Hoare. He was unrepresented and after arraignment, he was denied bail […]
Tonight, Ghost Town area resident, twenty-seven-old Kyle Chaplin, is on remand at the Belize Central Prison after being charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm upon four police officers. Chaplin is accused of shooting at three constables and a corporal on December ninth, 2018 on an unnamed Street off Mayflower Street, […]
Twenty-year-old Kentroy McKoy was paraded this evening before the lower court where he was arraigned on a single count of murder, following the mid-afternoon execution of Arthur ‘Taz’ Flowers on December third. McKoy, a customer service representative, was denied bail due to the nature of the offense and has been remanded to custody at the […]
