Roger Bradley has several previous convictions for crimes of dishonesty, but tonight he is a free man, after Justice Denis Hanomansingh set him free on Thursday from a burglary charge. Bradley was serving a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted of a 2014 home burglary at the Freetown Road residence of Luana Sosa, from which […]
Fifteen thousand dollars for groping and kissing a teenage minor, that’s the bail amount that was set in the Supreme Court earlier today when thirty-two-year-old Freddy Espinosa appeared before Justice Denis Hanomansingh. Espinosa’s appearance follows an incident on July twenty-fourth in Belmopan where it is alleged that he sexually assaulted a fifteen-year-old girl. Represented in […]
After a year on remand for a broad daylight murder in the city, twenty-eight-year-old Valentine Baptist was committed to stand trial at the Supreme Court for the murder of nineteen-year-old Devin Adolphus Parham. Baptist, a construction worker and resident of Castle Street, Belize City was arraigned on July eight, 2016, two days after the murder […]
Guatemalan businessman, Carlos Pop Xol, was stabbed to death back in April near the remote village of Jalacte in the south. Pop’s lifeless body was found by a relative not far from Tree Tops, a military outpost. The police investigation into that murder has led to the arrest of a naturalized Belizean; twenty-seven year old […]
A Belize City man was nabbed in Santa Elena in the west in possession of a cash pan and safe. Nineteen-year-old Selvin Linarez of Ebony Street was busted by police on mobile patrol at about two o’clock on Friday morning. Police believe he had robbed two business establishments. The Atlantic Insurance which is located on […]
Dangriga resident Keenan Anthony Flores pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply to another person or persons for the purpose of drug trafficking in the Magistrate’s Court. The twenty-three-year-old Flores charged for nearly five pounds of suspected cocaine found in two parcels under the front seat of […]
This past Wednesday, the final public hearing of the Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration before a one-month hiatus was abruptly canceled over lack of consensus as to the necessity and propriety of interviewing three senior auditors of the Supreme Audit Institution. The potential witnesses were part of the investigative team that conducted an audit […]
Last Friday, Bert Vasquez, convicted by a jury on July tenth of forcible abduction, sexual assault, and harm against a sixteen-year-old minor, which occurred back in May of 2011, continued to protest his innocence before media cameras. He was due to be sentenced by Justice Adolph Lucas, but the case was adjourned to today. But […]
Also from the Supreme Court, on Wednesday Dangriga resident Nisani Garcia was acquitted of a murder charge following trial before Justice Denis Hanomansingh. He was accused of the shooting death of Hansel Garcia in April of 2014. It is not clear if they are related. Hansel Garcia, also known as “Mission,” was shot while walking […]
He says he uses marijuana to relax his mind. But Aaron Flowers was sentenced to further jail time on a charge of possession of controlled substances after changing his plea in court today. Flowers elected to take the plea rather than face trial for possession of six point six grams of cannabis which he was […]
Chief Magistrate Ann-Marie Smith today committed thirty-year-old Allen Martinez to be tried in the Supreme Court on an arson charge. He is accused of setting afire a silver Mazda car belonging to the Government of Belize and assigned temporarily to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Patrick Faber. The incident happened at Faber’s residence […]
Those tuning in to Channel Five this morning expecting to see our live coverage of the Senate Special Select Committee’s public hearings will have been disappointed to see that they weren’t on. We can tell you tonight that the reason for that is an apparent dispute over the relevance of today’s witnesses, members of the […]
The Senate Select Committee is now scheduled to go on break for the entire month of August. Chairman Salazar told reporters that their visit to the department is scheduled for the end of August, following by public hearings in the first two weeks of September – those dates would be the sixth and thirteenth of […]
The Senate Special Select Committee has been watercooler talk across Belize since hearings resumed at the end of April. For better or worse, it has been dominated by the behavior of the ruling party, whose members have consistently disparaged the hearing both inside and outside of the National Assembly, and staged a violent insurrection at […]
A fifty-year-old man was arraigned today in the Belize Magistrate’s Court after he was arrested and charged with six counts of sexual assault and three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse of his ten and eight-year-old stepdaughters. The disturbing incidents date back to December 2016, when the ten-year-old was first approached by her stepfather who made […]
A second man has been charged with the armed robbery of businessman Robert Pickwoad at the Uno Gas Station on February seventh. He is thirty-three-year-old auto body works mechanic Arthur Humes of Curassow Street, Belize City. Humes joins Lloyd Leslie Junior of Bocotora Street, who was previously charged in March and is out on bail. […]
Twenty-three-year-old Patrick Petillo and twenty-eight-year-old Ronald Michael were jointly charged with one count of drug trafficking when they appeared in court today. Police report that on Saturday, July twenty-second, they made a bust of almost nine pounds of weed inside a vehicle that belong to Petillo, but was being driven at the time by Michael. […]
This morning, the American couple accused of cruelty and neglect of thirteen-year-old Faye Lin Cannon appeared before Supreme Court Justice Denis Hanomansingh, seeking bail. David and Anke Doehm got it after a lengthy hearing and as of this evening, they are out on bail of ten thousand dollars each and a surety. Despite the heavy […]
For those upset with the decision of the court, Bradley offered a timely reminder that bail is not a privilege, but a right, and that a person’s liberty cannot be taken from them except in extreme and documented circumstances. Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for David Doehm “Bail is not to be used to punish […]
After two nights in police custody, Cecil Gill was finally arraigned in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court for the murder of his friend Phillip Samuels. Gill was taken to court at around ten this morning, but his arraignment before Senior Magistrate Sharon Fraser was delayed until noon due to other high profile cases before the […]
Also in court was Bert Vasquez, who was convicted by a jury on July tenth of forcible abduction, sexual assault, and harm against a sixteen-year-old minor, which occurred back in May of 2011. He was due to be sentenced by Justice Adolph Lucas, but issues with the victim impact statement and other matters forced the […]
Activist Raymond Rivers also appeared in court today for an incident that goes back to November 2016 involving U.D.P. Councillor Phillip Willoughby. Willoughby accused Rivers of using threatening words against him. While Rivers did not deny he uttered the words “You weh dead bwai,” he said they were in no way threat of death words. But […]
Senior Counsel and Government Minister Wilfred Elrington has been taken to the Caribbean Court of Justice in respect to his personal handling of a case for a company, Progresso Heights Limited, of which he is a shareholder. The court has told him as principal in Pitts and Elrington law firm to return several land title […]
Before his investigation into Arthur Saldivar’s missing files expanded to look at their contents, former deputy of National Crimes Investigation Branch Julio Valdez was tasked with finding out how they were removed under the eyes of Immigration officials and who couriered them to Saldivar. The attorney wasn’t talking then, but simple observation found that there […]
A few weeks ago, Immigration officer Ady Pacheco came to the Senate Special Select Committee and extensively detailed her work therein, including acting as a counter-clerk receiving applications for nationality, passports and visas, particularly from Ministers of Government or their hangers-on. As Retired Superintendent of Police Julio Valdez observed, the Department seemed nonchalant about happenings […]
