There is an unprecedented challenge before the Caribbean Court of Justice. The case got underway today with President Justice Denis Byron presiding. Attorneys Eamon Courtenay and Ileana Swift are representing convicted murderer Gregory August. In 2009, August was charged for the murder of Alvin Robinson, an elderly resident of Eight Mile on the George Price […]
Is incarcerated Ladyville resident Mark Seawell closer to being extradited to the United States or is he finally going home to his family in the days ahead? His fate as an inmate on remand at the Belize Central Prison hangs in the balance, pending a decision by the Supreme Court on April sixth. Seawell, who […]
Unlike Gary Seawell’s case, which was dragged through the entire judicial system, Cooper is confident that the matter will be resolved in the high court and that the case will be dispensed with in an expeditious manner. Ben Cooper, Attorney for Mark Seawell “I have every confidence in this court for justice to be […]
A total of four awards handed down by the London Court of International Arbitration for multiple companies hit the Government hard in January, forcing new regulations against any attachment of Belize’s foreign reserves, including proceeds from commercial transactions. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear further appeals from Government for awards in favour […]
Did Barton Middleton act as an agent in the very lucrative visa services industry between 2011 and 2013? He has been accused of such by no less than Patrick Tillett, a U.D.P. insider, who told the Senate Special Select Committee that he paid Middleton some three thousand dollars per visa to take the applications into […]
Tonight, a San Pedro security guard in his mid-sixties accused of molesting an eight-year-old girl is a free man. Sixty-seven-year-old Jose Romero walked from the serious offense for carnal knowledge of the child when the alleged victim chose not to testify against him. Prosecutor in the case, Sherigne Rodriguez, called two witnesses to the stand […]
Another case of sexual abuse against a minor was disposed of in court today. After he was accused of molesting a child since the age of eleven, in August of 2013, police caught up with Mango Creek resident, Felicito Sho and charged him with rape. Today, however, the forty-three-year-old was freed. His freedom came […]
The sole witness present at today’s public hearing of the Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration was Barton Middleton. His appearance is the culmination of long weeks of interrogation of multiple witnesses involved in the disappearance of eight visa foils from the Western Border Immigration Station. Several of these visas wound up in passports for […]
Before that big reveal, Middleton displayed a severe case of amnesia through much of this morning’s testimony, apparently unable to recall much of anything that happened to him in the past several years and certainly around the time under investigation by the Select Committee. Take, for instance, Inez Casanova, the Immigration officer erroneously accused of […]
Though he may be forgetful of events, Barton Middleton is well aware of why he was called to Belmopan today. No less than four persons – Immigration Officers Mark Tench, Lindsay Wade and Vernon Leslie – as well as Patrick Tillett – have detailed their alleged dealings with Middleton as an Immigration “agent.” Tillett said […]
In the course of his testimony, Middleton claimed to have gone to surgery at the Corozal Hospital for a tumour growing at the base of his brain. When we checked this evening with the Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin Manzanero, he told us that while the Corozal Community Hospital has an operating theater, which […]
Barton Middleton, if not a hostile witness, was certainly a reluctant one. He spent much of his testimony denying meeting or closely knowing the likes of Mark Tench and Patrick Tillett. Indeed, the words “I don’t recall” or “I don’t know” featured prominently as his answers to direct questioning from the panel. Middleton also claimed […]
Forty-seven-year-old Marcial Toledo, an accused cop killer, is tonight on remand at the Belize Central Prison after being arraigned on Monday for the brutal murder of a law enforcement officer. Despite being booked for the fatal stabbing of Police Constable Marvin Locke, the Honduran national was initially turned back from being admitted into the custody […]
The Fisheries Department is tightening up on persons who violate fisheries regulations. A group of fishermen from Ranchito, Copper Bank and San Joaquin villages up north were taken to court this morning for possession of undersized conch found in their possession. Their arraignment lasted two hours and they all took a guilty plea before Magistrate […]
The budget debate proceeded today at the House in Belmopan. We will have all the highlights coming up, but we go to the Supreme Court which this morning delivered a stunning judgement in a murder case. Calaney Flowers was accused of deliberately ramming the motorcycle of her former boyfriend Lyndon Morrison and killing him in […]
Is the Belize Bank headed to the CCJ to force the application of an arbitral award against the Government of Belize? It is perhaps the only option left, since the Court of Appeal has dismissed a claim brought forward by the Ashcroft-related company. On June eighth, 2016, Justice Amit Mehta, a federal judge in the […]
A lawsuit filed against Foreign Minister Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington and his law firm, Pitts and Elrington, will be heard in the Caribbean Court of Justice in the months ahead. The matter involves a real estate company in which Elrington is said to be a shareholder, as well as a legal representative. According to attorney Eamon […]
Bahamians Ron Knowles and Kelvin Leach were back in court today where a second round of litigation concluded this afternoon in an appeal filed by the Government of Belize. The principals of the now defunct Titan International Securities were awarded almost nine million dollars in damages after it was determined that a raid on their […]
Knowles and Leach were initially claiming damages in excess of twenty million dollars. That figure was considerably reduced and after taking into account a number of reasons, the final sum was set at eight point eight million dollars. While the Government of Belize was only carrying out a request made by the United States, Barrow […]
Is Leonel Daly a free man because of a missing file? Daly’s case, an appeal to a robbery conviction, could not be heard today when he went before the Judges of the Court of Appeal because his record is missing. His file is one of twenty-three that cannot be located. So, after spending almost seven […]
A conviction of murder in the case of Osmar Sabido, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2016 for brutally stabbing his girlfriend, has been reduced to manslaughter. This afternoon before the Court of Appeal, attorneys Oscar Selgado and Leeroy Banner appeared before the bench where a decision was handed down that effectively commutes […]
A current and a former Immigration officer both appeared before today’s public hearing of the Senate Special Select Committee in Belmopan. The first, Inez Casanova, has not been directly accused of any wrongdoing. However, other witnesses have claimed that she had accompanied self-styled Immigration agent Barton Middleton to the Princess Hotel’s Calypso Restaurant in early […]
We will come to more of the Orange Walk-based immigration officer’s relationship with Middleton later on, but first, she revealed that she assisted Immigration officers who came to her asking about Middleton. Barton has a brother Eugene, who is a former Immigration officer; so which one was it? Officers, including Mark Tench, who were on […]
Casanova claims that her relationship with Barton Middleton did not go past occasional conversations while she was driving him to town, and never about Immigration-related matters. But Senators seized on a comment by Middleton to Casanova that she did not have to worry about anything. Wise words, but what would she have had to worry […]
How well can you really know a person – especially one to whom you would occasionally allow access to ride in your personal vehicle? In the case of Inez Casanova, the Senate panel was satisfied that she was not directly accused of involvement – but to a man they had trouble with the seeming casualness […]
