It wasn’t long before the year’s second fatal gunshot rang out, this time in the Orange Walk District. According to police reports, fifty-eight year old Ramon Flota, a cane farmer of San Lazaro Village, left his home around six Thursday morning to go to his field situated seven miles south of Trinidad Village. But when […]
He was caught with a stolen weed whopper and for the next five months, Belize City resident Juan Jesus Vega will have more than enough time to consider the error of his ways. Vega was sentence to jail on Thursday when he appeared in Belize City Magistrate’s Court, charged with the crime of handling stolen […]
The long stretch of coral forming the eastern wall of Lighthouse Reef Atoll has claimed another ship. According to a release from the Belize Ports Authority, the two hundred and twenty-five foot long cargo ship “Transfer” ran hard aground around eleven thirty Thursday night at a spot four point two miles south of Sandbore Caye. […]
Having made major renovations at the KHMH and two Belize City health centres, the Government of Belize will now embark on badly needed improvements at the Northern Regional Hospital in Orange Walk. Construction will begin Monday on a project to revamp the institution’s water and sewerage facilities. Components include a ten thousand gallon water tank […]
It was not the way he planned on bringing in the new year, but a night of partying came to an abrupt end in the wee hours of January First when a fight broke out at Charisma, a new nightclub that opened over the holidays at the Princess Hotel. Twenty-two year old Eder Alamilla tells […]
In a climate in which scarce resources dictate a basic “no frills” approach to education, this Belize City high school for girls stands out in its broad based approach to learning. And today that dedication to subjects beyond the “three Rs” was rewarded as St. Vincent Pallotti High recognised a record sixteen students for achievement […]
It would have taken a miracle to find that police constable Morris Martinez, missing since December twenty-second, was alive…but miracles are in short supply in Belize these days. Today the heavily decomposed body of Martinez was discovered by police off a cane feeder road between Corozal Town and Consejo. Investigators believe that Martinez, last seen […]
Today the public got to put a human face on a crime that has outraged the nation. Accused child rapist Rayford Sanchez was brought to Magistrate’s Court this afternoon where he was charged with committing an unnatural crime, carnal knowledge and indecent assault. The twenty-eight year old was denied bail and remanded to Hattieville prison […]
Rayford Sanchez is not the only Belizean accused of sexually abusing a minor. Today police have arrested twenty-six year old Sheldon Baptist of Burrel Boom following an incident on Tuesday night in which a fifteen-year-old female from the village claims she was forcibly raped. The young woman told police that she was home alone and […]
Getting a handle on the subject of sexual abuse in Belize is not easy, as it is only in the last decade or so that it has become the focus of public debate. One survey, however, conducted in 1997 by a group of students and their teacher from the University College of Belize, sheds some […]
Several weeks ago we ran a story on the Corozal Free Zone which explained that, due to a number of factors, business was significantly down. This week the Ministry of Investment has announced the appointment of a special task force to find ways to reverse that decline. The six members: Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries […]
The Belize Tourism Industry Association today convened a meeting of a group called Friends of Coastal Zone to discuss a concept paper for the management of the Belize Barrier Reef. It’s a two-fold proposal that would see the financially strapped Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute get full oversight responsibility along with much needed financial […]
It has taken a while for the magnitude of the disaster to sink in but Belizeans, no strangers to the wrath of nature, are beginning to respond to the tragedy in Asia. News 5’s Patrick Jones has more. Patrick Jones, Reporting Three of the local organizations that are organizing aid assistance for tsunami victims in […]
His fame as an amateur photographer has recently been eclipsed by his winning of the Lotto, but Noel Escalante hasn’t let those new found riches change his habits. And so he’s back with his annual exhibition, this time at the Belize City House of Culture. Patrick Jones, ably assisted by our two interns from Gwen […]
It is, unfortunately, not an unusual crime…but the report of a sadistic child rape in Belize City today sent a shockwave of revulsion through the community. Whether heard on the radio talk shows or around the office water cooler, the question persisted: why? Jacqueline Woods, Reporting ?He hurt me and made me cry? That?s what […]
It is always disturbing whenever we hear that a child has been sexually abused and the pain and fear these helpless victims experience is difficult to imagine. The question is: what would possess anyone to hurt such a small defenceless human being? According to Doctor Roy Lopez, a psychiatrist at Universal Health Services, while he […]
With the clock ticking loudly on the need for concrete measures to reduce Government’s deficit, all eyes are focussed on the Prime Minister’s budget speech, which has been announced for Friday, January fourteenth. A press release following Tuesday’s cabinet meeting–the last to be held before the speech–reports that Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Said […]
Three more suspects have been arrested and charged in the Christmas Eve killing of Police Constable Nedi Reymundo. They are twenty-five year old Glen Jordan, twenty-six year old Winston Jones and twenty-two year old Wendel Vernon, all charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They join twenty-three year old Chadrick DeBride who was charged […]
In other crime news, the office of All Saints Anglican Church in Kings Park has been burglarised. The break-in occurred sometime between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning after the burglar bars were pried off. The inventory of stolen items has not been completed but among the missing goods are a quantity of used clothing valued […]
It’s almost a rite of passage for boys growing up in Belize City. That is…having your bicycle jacked. Well, tonight two suspected bike jackers are being asked to account for their actions. Following a report that a young man was forced off his wheels around mile two on the Northern Highway on Sunday afternoon police […]
The global fight against AIDS is not being waged on a single battlefield or even led by a unified command. Instead it is largely a war of small skirmishes–scientific, social, political–conducted all over the world, sometimes successful, sometimes not. In Belize a new initiative currently being implemented with assistance from the United States Department of […]
For over twenty-five years, doctors from the Shriners Hospitals for Children located in St. Louis, Missouri, have been volunteering their services to help local kids with bone disorders and other developmental problems. To date over a hundred boys and girls from all over the country have received specialists’ care in the U.S.A. This week, volunteers […]
The case of missing police constable Morris Martinez has taken what looks like a dramatic turn since our last report from Corozal yesterday. Sources close to the investigation tell News 5 that a second vehicle is now believed to have been involved in Martinez’s disappearance and possible murder. That vehicle, a car with Corozal license […]
Police and fire investigators are taking a fresh look at Friday night’s fatal blaze in San Pedro, following a post mortem conducted on the victim’s corpse. That examination, while determining that Mauricio Rodriguez died of smoke inhalation, also revealed bruises on his body that were not consistent with fire. That finding bolsters claims by family […]
Police are also asking your help to catch another criminal…but this one shouldn’t be hard to find as he sports two cigarette burns on his left cheek. According to police, the unidentified young man tried to jack a tourist Monday afternoon as she walked down Bishop Street near downtown. Lynda VanOmmeren told investigators that she […]
