Two men charged for the 2009 murder of fifty-nine-year-old Taiwanese businessman Tsong Ming Liou, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter on September twenty-sixth. On Friday, the duo, thirty-two-year-old Jewel Palma and twenty-six-year-old Oscar Maldonado had their sentence reduced from sixteen years behind bars to eight months in jail by Justice Colin Williams. Justice […]
The Caribbean Court of Justice today dismissed an appeal brought by convicted murderer Dionicio Salazar. Found guilty of the 2010 murder of Marlon River, Salazar first appealed the decision of the Supreme Court in the Court of Appeal which affirmed the decision. He then took the matter to the Caribbean Court of Justice which also […]
Dionicio Salazar was given a life sentence for the murder of Marlon Rivera. River was fatally shot on June thirteenth, 2010 in San Ignacio near the police station. His attorney Anthony Sylvestre says that the court will resentence Salazar. Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney for Dionicio Salazar “They had allowed this appeal in relation to sentence […]
This afternoon in San Pedro, Rufino Hernandez, one of two persons suspected of the brutal murder of Caye Caulker resident Christopher Meighan, was arraigned in the magistrate’s court. He joins Belizean/American Lalman Logan at the Belize Central Prison where he is also on remand after being indicted for the same offence. Meighan was found butchered […]
Sixty-year-old Salvadoran National Nicolas Guevara is a free man tonight. He had been charged, convicted and sentenced for the murder of thirty-six-year-old Marcus Antonio Tzul. He was sentenced to life in prison on December 1993. His sentence was reduced this morning to twenty-five years by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin but because Guevara had served for […]
A British national was arraigned this morning in the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court for an alleged kidnapping. He is sixty-three-year-old Roger Wallis, a well-known businessman in the community, who drives a white van. Last week, three siblings alleged that a perp attempted to kidnap them. They claimed that they fought him off when he tried to […]
The Supreme Court has handed down a hefty fine on Orange Walk South area representative Abelardo Mai to pay over two hundred and twenty thousand dollars in damages to the family of Julia Arana. On April first, sometime around eight in the night, Mai was driving along the Philip Goldson Highway when he knocked down […]
Today’s ruling was monumental. It sets a new precedence in amounts to be paid to grieving families in Belize for fatal traffic accidents. Attorney Sheena Pitts explained that the conventional award for loss of life is usually three thousand five hundred dollars, but today her client was awarded twenty thousand dollars. She explains how this […]
Eight lawmen jointly charged for murdering forty-six-year-old Ariel Audinette had the charges dismissed this morning when they appeared in the Orange Walk Magistrate Court. Police officer Lennart Cajun; B.D.F. soldiers Mateo Bolon, Patrick Villagran Senior, Patrick Diego, Elvis Cob, Edmar Petillo, Bladimir Escarraga and Francis Sho were accused of violently beating Audinett to death at […]
According to attorney Oscar Selgado, the Crown told the court that the case file is not ready because the prosecution has not received further instructions from the Office of the Public Prosecution. Oscar Selgado, Attorney for Defendants “To my surprise also the prosecutor a very junior member of the police force, h e was […]
One man has been charged in connection with the brawl at the Pier One Bar at Digi Park two weeks ago. That person is Dwayne Michael Leslie and not Wayne Leslie as the police had first said. Dwayne has been charged and arraigned for dangerous harm and use of deadly means of harm in connection […]
There are two major developments on the illegal landing of a drug plane with fourteen million dollars worth of cocaine. The drug, one thousand two hundred and twenty-six pounds of it, packed in bales, was destroyed today in western Belize in an operation mounted by the police. The other very significant event happened here in […]
Calaney Flowers was acquitted of the murder of her boyfriend Lyndon Morrison last year, having spent years behind bars awaiting trial. She visited the United States shortly after her release and is currently in detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possibly overstaying her time. But Flowers is back in the news tonight because […]
A scheduled hearing of a suit brought against the Belize City Council and others by Haylock Bus Limited was further adjourned today to October tenth when all parties are to return to court for the matter to be heard before Supreme Court Judge Shona Griffith. The bus company is claiming that the council acted unlawfully […]
Thirty-two-year-old Deon Bruce has been on remand since January 2014 on a committal warrant by then Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith who ordered his extradition to face criminal charges including murder, in the USA. Bruce stands accused of fatally shooting Aaron Carter in July 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. In 2014, Bruce’s then-attorney Audrey Matura-Shepherd successfully […]
Three Belizeans and two Mexican nationals were arraigned in court this morning on charges relating to a drug plane that landed on September eleventh in Tres Leguas, near Blue Creek, Orange Walk District. The cargo was one thousand two hundred and twenty-six pounds of cocaine, with a value of fourteen million dollars. The arraignment took […]
Anke Doehm returned to court today seeking a variation to her bail conditions so that she can travel to the U.S. to visit with her doctors. But even as that application was brought before the courts, Doehm was faced with being remanded after the person who had initially posted bail for her withdrew his recognizance. […]
On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Adolph Lucas found twenty-five-year-old Ernest Thurton Junior guilty of a double homicide, but has reserved sentencing until October eighth. Thurton was charged with the murder of forty-one-year-old Frank James and fifty-year-old Robert Young. Both men were fatally shot on October twenty-fifth, 2012 while at a dockyard on North Front Street, […]
There is an update to the story of a construction worker who was killed by a cement mixer. Eighteen-year-old San Carlos villager, Victor Hernandez has been charged for causing the death of twenty-one-year-old Jeffrey Hernandez. Victor was charged with manslaughter by negligence and was released on a ten-thousand-dollar bail on Friday. On Monday, September third, […]
The number of persons accused of murder, who are applying and successfully getting bail in the Supreme Court, is on an upward trend. One of the most recent cases involves Ashley Meighan, who was behind bars awaiting trial for the murder of her classmate Chryslin Gladden; another person, Clement Bol Junior, was also charged with […]
Another person who is out on bail for murder is Dean Dawson Junior. The Supreme Court granted him bail in the sum of forty thousand dollars. Dawson was charged for the murder of Wallace Matura. In March 2013, Matura had reportedly intervened to stop Dawson from troubling a young girl. Dawson left but returned later […]
On Monday we reported on the case in which two men were charged with drug trafficking of five kilos of cocaine and possession of firearm and ammunition without a gun license, but freed of the charges. Thirty-three-year-old Carlos Lopez and thirty-seven-year-old Peter Schmidt both walked when their attorney made a ‘no-case submission’ because the arresting […]
Guilty of manslaughter…today, twenty-nine-year-old Justin Lemott was sentenced to fifteen years behind bars. But Lemott, who was found guilty of fatally stabbing of seventeen-year-old Richard Waight Junior in April 2014, will only serve ten years and four months. Justice Adolph Lucas deducted the time he had spent in jail prior to his conviction. Originally charged […]
The criminal trial against Milton Maza and Eli Lopez Avila continued today in the court room of Justice Colin Williams today. The two men stand accused of butchering Attorney Richard Stuart and his wife Maria on October sixteen 2010 at their home in West Landivar. On Monday, the court heard testimonies from both accused who […]
Two men charged for the 2010 murder of Richard and Maria Stuart took the stand today before Supreme Court Justice, Colin Williams. Milton Maza and Eli Avila López both proclaimed their innocence to the court. From the dock, Maza told the court that he was innocent of the crime he has been accused of. Lopez […]
