On February fifth, 2016 Korean Huong Chong Park received Supreme Court bail after more than a week in jail. Park was charged for the little known crime of Abetment of Crime to Pervert the Course of Justice, for her involvement in the very sensational Bradley Paumen case. Park’s bail was set high, but the Judge […]
Forty-four-year old Javier Saragossa, a Belize City taxi man, picked up a conviction for reckless driving but he must go to trial for the offense of failure to provide a urine sample. Saragossa initially pleaded guilty to both charges saying he did want to waste time going back and forth in court but he was […]
It’s relatively common knowledge that high-quality marijuana is being systematically brought in from Mexico and distributed to local areas heavily trafficked by tourists – like San Pedro and Caye Caulker and Placencia. It’s also common knowledge that while Police have been able to seize some of those shipments coming by road, that’s probably a drop […]
There was a home invasion in the Camalote Village, Cayo District, where burglars got away with a gun and jewelry valued at over five thousand dollars. On Tuesday, Roaring Creek Police visited the residence of thirty-three-year-old Gladwin Penner, who reported that while he was at his ranch on the Hummingbird Highway, his housekeeper called say […]
The United States Embassy in Belize has released its 2015 Human Rights Report. The comprehensive study which looks at human rights violations highlights excessive use of force by the police, lengthy pretrial detention, as well as harassment and threats based on sexual orientation or gender identity. On the issue of police brutality, the case of […]
The B.T.B. is forecasting that it will be reaching the million mark number of cruise tourism visitors to the jewel this year. It has already contracted the Brighter Group firm of the UK to promote Belize in Europe and specifically in the UK. In the first quarter of this year, January to March, overnight visitors […]
In January 2015, the Government of Taiwan publicly announced that it will be gifting the Government two helicopters that are required to expand Belize’s military training program. That announcement was followed with the arrival in July of a team of seven mechanics from Taiwan to ensure that the B.D.F. air wing had the equipment and […]
According to Ambassador Ho, the helicopters will be used for emergency evacuations and to crack down on illegal drug trafficking or illegal human trafficking. Benjamin Ho, Taiwanese Ambassador to Belize “As you know the relation between our two countries is always so cordial and so close; it grows each year. We cover not only […]
The top brass of the police was present today for an award ceremony recognizing its finest officers who performed impressively in the first quarter of this year. More than twenty officers based in Belize City made the cut and received certificates as well as monitory compensation. News Five’s Isani Cayetano was present for the ceremony […]
The Ministry of Health is working overtime in southern Belize where samples are being collected by personnel to be sent for testing at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) laboratory in Trinidad. The data gathering activity is being conducted to determine the presence of ZIKA in Belize. Despite the notice sent by the Centers for […]
An interesting and totally rewarding program is taking place in our neighborhood. The House of Shotokan has teamed up with Nazarene High School to develop a physical education program as part of the school’s curriculum. Now, the House of Shotokan is known for martial arts, but is now offering ballet classes to the neighbourhood students. […]
Yolanda Valencia was killed in August 2014 when an intoxicated deputy Commissioner of Police Miguel Segura, in a government vehicle, collided into a taxi just outside San Jose Succotz, Cayo. The chilling video of Segura at the scene of the accident went viral and prompting public outrage. The market vendor died instantly, and in August […]
Former People’s United Party Secretary General Myrtle Palacio appeared before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin today, after filing a civil suit against the Guardian Newspaper. The case originates from an article and a cartoon published in the U.D.P. party organ purportedly depicting Palacio as someone who practices witchcraft. She took umbrage with the piece of writing, […]
In court this morning, Palacio gave a sworn statement. The article and the accompanying cartoon were also tendered as evidence. The argument, however, brings to the fore the issue of fair comment, a legal term for a common law defense in defamation cases involving libel or slander. Said Musa, Attorney for Myrtle Palacio “Mrs. […]
Newspaper editor Alfonso Noble, who is named in the suit, is being represented by Senior Counsel Michael Young. Both Young and his client reiterated that what was published in that edition of the Guardian is based on the freedom of the press to express statements on matters of public interest. Those statements, they contend, were […]
Since Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams effected a citywide curfew roughly one month ago, various sectors, including parents, government departments and non-government organizations have raised concerns about the housing of minors picked up off the streets of Belize City after nine p.m. That disquiet prompted ACP Williams to return to the drawing board in […]
On Tuesday night, we brought you extensive coverage of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conference in Belmopan. The issue on the table, of course, was the recent meeting with top diplomatic and military officials at O.A.S. headquarters to discuss rules of engagement in the Sarstoon. At that session, the Belize delegation presented eleven draft […]
As we showed you in Tuesday night’s newscast, both Minister Elrington and Opposition representative Ambassador Assad Shoman believe that the protocols were well received. They are also hopeful that a positive response will be forthcoming within a week even though Guatemala has so aggressively asserted its sovereignty on the entire Sarstoon. Still, Elrington says that […]
Was thirty-one-year-old Anwar Vernon murdered? It’s a baffling case that has Belize City police stumped. Vernon had been admitted to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital a week ago, after being found unresponsive in a drain. He was observed with varying degrees of injuries, however, it is yet to be confirmed what caused Vernon’s wounds and […]
On Holy Saturday, B.D.F. Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey was shot near Valentin Camp in the Chiquibul. Days after, a report into the incident commissioned by the Ministry of National Security was leaked to News Five. In that document, the claim is that Lambey was ambushed, possibly in retaliation for the arrest of a Guatemalan one […]
In October of 2015, a well-known notorious street figure, Edward Albert Robinson was targeted by gunmen but he escaped the shooting and instead a bystander, Jamil Betancourt, was fatally shot and killed. The gunmen were believed to be two known Supal Street residents. And on October twentieth, 2015, police escorted twenty-two-year old Devon Sankey, and […]
Glenford Baptist, who is serving a twenty-five-year sentence for his part in a murder, has picked up another charge that could lead to further time behind bars. Baptist, who is the longest serving member on death row, was before the court today to answer a charge of drug trafficking for sixty three grams of marijuana […]
A preliminary inquiry in the case of slain newspaper journalist Kareem Clarke was held in the magistrate’s court on Monday. Clarke was allegedly shot and killed by a minor on July sixth, as he was riding his bicycle near the intersection of Lakeview and Vernon Streets in Belize City. The minor, it is reported, is […]
A constitutional challenge filed by Belize City resident Allison Major in which he disputed the amended firearm act, concluded in the Supreme Court earlier this week. The suit came on the heels of the arrest and imprisonment of Major in April 2012, when police stormed into a residence and detained a family of seven for […]
Turning to politics…the U.D.P. Deputy Leadership convention has been set for May twenty-ninth. In the ongoing campaign, on Tuesday, Minister John Saldivar, who is running for first deputy party leader, released photographs of parliamentarians and others who endorse him, including the Deputy Prime Minister himself, Gaspar Vega. But interestingly others in the Orange Walk caucus […]
