Earlier this week, we reported on the shocking news coming out of the Cayo District; that an eleven-year-old boy of Santa Elena had been sodomized, allegedly by his sixteen-year-old brother as he slept inside his room last Friday. Following a report made late last week, investigations were immediately launched into the matter and today, the […]
In court news, twenty-three-year-old Justin Arnold of Sandhill village has been accused of domestic assault on his partner. Interestingly, the accuser is a male, sixteen years older than him, and they have been in a committed relationship for six months. It comes after last week Wednesday’s landmark decision by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin to remove […]
Two women accused of trafficking one hundred and forty-eight pounds of cannabis found inside a vehicle at the La Democracia police checkpoint were released after Magistrate Deborah Rogers found they had no case to answer. Twenty-year-old Eve Beeks of Belize City and twenty-one-year old Dawn Parchue avoided a heavy fine and jail sentence after their […]
Two persons have been charged in connection with the murder of Duck Run Two resident, forty-one-year-old Hever Miranda. Late Monday evening, after twenty-four hours of investigation, San Ignacio police charged Gladimir Bartolo Shish and Carlos Antonio Menendez for his murder. Miranda was killed just after three o’clock on Sunday at the entrance to La Pasadita […]
On Monday, Senior Counsel Richard “Dickie” Bradley, attorney for Melissa Ferguson, accused of conspiring to kidnap Pastor Llewellyn Lucas and David Dodd, all but assured the press after her bail hearing that his client will be free of the charge. Now that’s par for the course for defense attorneys, but Bradley went a little further, […]
A trio of men was charged with robbery and handling stolen goods and they were arraigned this morning before Senior Magistrate Sharon Fraser. Thirty-one-year-old Kareem Betancourt; twenty-year-old Jermaine Wagner, a fisherman of Neal’s Pen Road; and eighteen-year-old Lemar Lamb, are accused of stealing money and other goods from Ainsley Castro, a well-known Belize City, on […]
This afternoon in the Supreme Court, a legal showdown was expected between the Crown and Senior Counsel Richard “Dickie” Bradley who represents Melissa Ferguson, an accused conspirator in the kidnapping of murdered pastor Llewellyn Lucas and David Dodd. Crown Counsel Rene Montero had requested and was granted an adjournment last week Thursday to decide how […]
The soft-spoken Melissa Ferguson faced the press just before four-thirty this evening after making bail, flanked by her attorney Bradley. Ferguson told the media she has never been accused, much less convicted of a crime, and that recent events have come as a shock to her. Melissa Ferguson, Accused of Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping […]
A seventeen-year-old who is no stranger to police is back behind bars where he will spend his eighteenth birthday. The minor was read a murder charge in the Belize Family Court for the Friday morning murder of thirty- year-old Jason Young, aka “Packson”. Young, a popular footballer, was shot dead at the intersection of Dolphin […]
Twenty-six-year-old Kenroy Timmons of Belize City is accused of twice having sex with a minor aged fifteen. Today he appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann-Marie Smith and did not give a plea. He was denied bail due to the nature of the offense and remanded to the Belize Central Prison until December 12, 2016. According to […]
As many as fourteen bail applications were heard today; there were no objections to eleven, but in the case of the remaining three sensational cases, there were strenuous objections presented. Addison Gillett, the former driver of the former COMPOL, Crispin Jefferies, received Supreme Court bail by Justice Troadio Gonzalez in the sum of eight thousand […]
The bail application for Melissa Ferguson, the wife of murder suspect William “Danny’’ Mason, also came up but was deferred to Monday because Crown Counsel Rene Montero told the court that he received the file for Ferguson late on Thursday and needed time to prepare grounds for objection. The Justice then granted an adjournment. Two […]
Accused murdered William “Danny” Mason left the Belize Central Prison momentarily today for another court appearance. Under heavy police guard, he was transported to the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court in a prison van. When he was taken for arraignment before Magistrate Emmerita Anderson he was shielded as he entered the courtroom and was unrepresented. Mason is […]
As we said, the Friesens have once again returned to Canada because of the ordeal they endured during their kidnapping. We asked court prosecutor Chester Williams if their absence from the jurisdiction will affect the case. On the Phone: ACP Chester Williams, Prosecutor “Well the Friessens have not indicated to the police that they […]
Access to healthcare has long been an issue for members of the LGBT community. According to Orozco, they have been shut off from respective medical institutions simply because they are not biologically related to their partners. As a result they are often kept in the dark when it comes to the medical status of their […]
Is gay rights activist Caleb Orozco any safer after Wednesday’s breakthrough decision? The question of his personal safety has always been an issue ever since choosing the pioneering role of challenging the legality of Section Fifty-three of the Criminal Code. At a press conference following the Supreme Court decision, we asked Orozco if he feels […]
A trial by judge without jury concluded on Wednesday before Justice Troadio Gonzalez in the Belize City Supreme Court against twenty-two year old Curtis Lamb. The Belize City youth was seventeen years old when he was arrested on August 2011 for the murder of Justin Roaches. Roaches was shot and killed while socializing at the […]
Today, attorney for Michael Modiri, Nazira Myles of Chebat and Co., filed a notice of appeal challenging the amount of damages awarded to Modiri in the case against Bradley Paumen. The appeal was filed before Madam Registrar, Velda Flowers in the Supreme Court. Myles appeared in court as scheduled, but Paumen, the owner of […]
Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin delivered a highly anticipated decision this morning in the Supreme Court. On July 2010, Caleb Orosco, president of UNIBAM took the government to court challenging Section fifty-three of Criminal Code of Belize. Arguments were heard three years later. In May 2013, Orozco’s attorneys argued that Section Fifty-Three was unconstitutional because it […]
The groundbreaking decision handed down by the Supreme Court earlier today has been met with mixed reception. Immediately following the ruling, Special Envoy for Women and Children, Kim Simplis Barrow, said “it’s a great day for Belize; it’s a great day for human rights; one step closer to dignity and the respect we all deserve.” […]
The National Evangelical Association of Belize has been vocal in its objection to the challenge ever since it was filed six years ago. This morning, outside of the Supreme Court near Battlefield Park, a handful of churchgoers gathered with their placards to denounce the outcome. NEAB, led by Pastor Lance Lewis, expressed its displeasure with […]
UNIBAM President Simone Hill says that the legal victory, aside from being a significant human rights achievement in Belize, was the result of a collective effort which included input from the UWI Rights Advocacy Project, URAP. Simone Hill, President, UNIBAM “I remember the days when many of the men of the community who identify […]
At around four-thirty this evening Melissa Ferguson was formally arraigned on one single count of Conspiracy to Kidnap two persons – Pastor Llewellyn Lucas and one other. No single step in this ongoing saga has been a simple one and the Court proceeding of Ferguson was no exception. She was actually taken before the Magistrate […]
Bradley maintains that his client, Ferguson, could and would have left the country if she was guilty of the crime for which she has been charged or for the murder which arose out of that kidnapping. Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for Melissa Ferguson “If I knew for a moment there was the slightest way […]
He maintains that it’s all about optics – pointing out that while Ferguson has been charged for conspiring to kidnap Pastor Lucas and another man, she has not been charged with conspiring to kill Lucas even though Police are saying that kidnapping led to Pastor Lucas being brutally murdered. Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for […]
