Earlier today, businessman and recording artist Aaron Wilson stopped by our office to share his side of an incident that took place inside the Ladyville Police Station over the extended weekend that resulted in him being detained for over twenty hours. As we initially reported, Wilson’s employee, a deliveryman, was taken into custody for a motorcycle offense. When Wilson showed up at the station sometime later to present the documents for the motorbike, an exchange of words ensued between him and a female officer. That led to Wilson being detained and placed inside a holding cell at the precinct, before being released without charge twenty-two hours later. Here’s his story.
Aaron Wilson
Aaron Wilson, Detained by Police
“When I reach Ladyville now, nobody tell me my workman released. Soh I reach Ladyville and I gaan da di station because I expect that, you know what, I bring my documents here, release di man. But because Mr. Barrow trusted what I mi di tell ahn, Mr. Barrow gaan head and released di man. And when I reach station, da like di whole station bex wid me because I call dehn boss and I jump dehn and dehn feel like dehn da nobody now and dehn done bex wid me from I reach station because my workman mi done tell me dat di W seh ih wah charge me because I call and cuss ahn dats why she heng up di phone. I‘m like neva bro, dat neva happen. I am upset that she heng up di phone because I di tell ahn dat I di bring di documents and she noh got time fi hear dat or wait fi mek I reach from Cayo to ya. So when I reach, she done deh eena my face. Di minute I walk eena di station, she jump out fi she seat and staat seh dat she wahn charge me and I tell ahn fi what. I cohn tell unu dat unu du wrong.”
The 2024 Women In Art exhibit is here just in time for International Women’s Month. Every year, the Institute of Creative Arts showcases various mediums of art submitted by female artist from across Belize. This year’s exhibit will open tomorrow under the theme ‘StrongHER: Mentoring, Elevating and Ascending Together’. News Five’s Britney Gordon visited the Bliss Center today to meet a few of the featured artists and for an exclusive preview of the exhibit. Here’s that story.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
We are halfway through the month of March which is recognized globally as international women’s month, and the celebrations have only intensified. As part of activities for Women’s Month, the Institute of Creative Arts will launch its annual women’s art exhibit titled Women in Art 2024: StrongHER: Mentoring, Elevating & Ascending Together. We visited the gallery for a sneak peak of the featured pieces. Kim Vasquez, Director of ICA spoke to us about the event.
Kim Vasquez
Kim Vasquez, Director, ICA
“We have well over thirty women artists from across the country showcasing art in different types of art. We have handcraft. We have some new types of, we have, for example, I saw one of the ostrich feathers and the ostrich eggs being converted into art by Nancy Marin in the showcase out there. We have photography, we have painting, we have sculpting fashion design. It’s, it really is a mix. And we also had a series of youth workshops happening across the country, and we have, I think, over fifty submissions as well. That will be a special section of the exhibit as well this year.”
We spoke with featured artist, Minita Concha, a nurse, who has been painting since she was nine years old. Concha has been featured in the exhibit for a decade now. Concha explained that she draws inspiration from several places such as the Belizean flora and fauna around her, but also more obscure sources such as books about Victorian regal patterns.
Minita Concha
Minita Concha, Painter
“Whatever I create, I always try to have, Belize in mine. So if you really look at it, you will see that the comb, they’re all about beauty. But if you really look at it, you will see that one of them have a mango in it, one have the black orchid, and the third one was supposed to be blue myrtle. So I want all of them to represent beauty and as women we like to care for ourself, we like putting on lipsticks, we like combing our hair and stuff like that.”
Vasquez further explained that the exhibit is not only meant to showcase art, but to inspire sisterhood as well. Young female artists will be able to be mentored, so that they may develop their own passion for the arts and be featured if they desire to someday.
Kim Vasquez
“We are a proud member of the Women’s Month Planning Committee. And this is something that we’ve been doing annually for a number of years, COVID had brought a pause to Women in Art. And we have gradually been rebuilding and bringing it back. And we are really seeing where every year we are seeing younger artists come in to participate. More women are participating from across the country and the call is open. We send out the call from the last week of January and anyone. And that’s the beauty of Women in Art is that it’s meant to be an inclusive exhibit where both professional and women who have been doing art for a number of years showcase their art besides somebody that is very young and may never have participated in any, in an exhibit before. But it’s about sisterhood. This year we’re focusing a lot on mentorship.”
As Vasquez mentioned, the exhibit features artists of various mediums. Fashion designer Irma Ramos, of CK Designs, has been designing for about twenty years and is featuring her art in the exhibit for the second time. Ramos explained that she enjoys creating fashion for young girls and that her art displayed this year, draws inspiration from the 1800’s fashion trends of wealthy and unwealthy girls and showcases how fashion has evolved in modern day to mimic the extravagance of the 1800’s without the price.
Irma Ramos
Irma Ramos, Fashion Designer
“The kids, because, I like, girls. Clothing for little girls, because it’s the cute designs, no? It’s more for creative for designers, it’s more creative minds and ideas. So, for that, I design for that area. I’m an expert in different areas, but, personal, I decide for kid area.”
Britney Gordon for News Five.
The Women In Art exhibit is free for all to visit and will be on display all month long.
The National Emergency Management Organization is hosting its annual training with the U.S. Army and several Belizean media houses to strengthen relations between the disaster organization and the media. This training is carried out so that, in the case of an emergency, information can be distributed in an accurate and timely manner with the adequate care the situation may call for. This training is also a necessary aspect of the United States military’s preparation for hurricane support on disaster management, should they ever be called to Belize.
Daniel Mendez
Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator, NEMO
“The events that are happening today are part of our annual training with the United States Army. So at the training team is actually from J.T. F., Bravo Joint Task Force Bravo, which is average out of Soto Cano, Honduras. And so they are the team that would respond to believes in case there was a need for humanitarian assistance or disaster response, and it exceeded our capacity. Today we’re talking about how the media engages with the disaster organizations to cover disaster events. We want to make sure that we provide information to the media and to the public. And trying to provide the media with some techniques on how to cover to cover these accurately. While at the same time getting as much information out to people. It’s important because as we look at disaster response, We need to work together. We need to be collaborative, and we need to have a comprehensive approach. NEMO and the government of Belize cannot do everything ourselves, and so we have to really reach out to all of our partners, including the media. The media is important. The media helps us in disseminating information. The media helps us to share information to people as they prepare, as they try to navigate the challenges that that disaster poses.”
As today is internationally recognized as World Kidney Day, the Kidney Association of Belize is reminding you to take care of your kidneys. To ensure that Belizeans are taking preventative measures to combat kidney disease, the association will be holding its annual health fair, on March fifteenth in Belize City. There, visitors will have access to doctors and healthcare providers to conduct several checkups and tests for conditions that affect the kidney, free of cost. We spoke with former president of the association, Ruby Nicholas, for more information. News Five’s Britney Gordon reports.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
Diabetes and hypertension are two of the most common conditions that affect Belizeans, and both are leading causes of death in the country. As part of International Kidney Awareness Month and World Kidney Day, the Kidney Association of Belize is hosting its annual health fair in order to ensure that Belizeans are taking steps to ensure kidney health before it becomes too late.
Ruby Nicholas
Ruby Nicholas, Treasurer, Kidney Association of Belize
“Today is World Kidney Day and tomorrow we’re planning our health fair on March fifteenth. It will be at the Lions parking lot, KHMH, and there we will be allowing persons to come in and we’re inviting the entire public. Everything that we present there will be free of cost, and we want to, the public to become aware of their health status. We’ll be having their blood pressure check, their diabetes check your urinalysis check, and then those who are showing high readings or concerns in whatever the test may be showing, we will also be having them doing their blood tests, the kidney function blood tests.”
Ruby Nicholas says that this annual event is a crucial part of kidney care, as it allows for people to detect anomalies in their health and combat any underlying issues early on.
Ruby Nicholas
“We will be having doctors there, nurses, nutritionists, we will even invite for HIV rapid tests. and then as well as having invitation from BCVI to give appointments for them to check their eyes. So everything will be holistically being checked for the individual and that is going to be associated with the kidney area to see where your status is. Those who will be having issues with their health, we will try to advise them to do referral and for them to seek further attention. Our main focus will be on patients or persons who may be diabetic, hypertensive, even yourself you’re unaware of where you are with your health, we’re inviting you out there tomorrow.”
Doctor Natasha Gongora of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, explained the eight golden rules of kidney health.
Natasha Gongora
Natasha Gongora, Internal Medicine & Nephrology Specialist , K.H.M.H.
“Eight golden rules to take care of your kidneys include one, keeping a fit and active life. Two, controlling your sugar levels. Controlling your blood pressure. Four, controlling a good weight. Having a good weight by eating healthy. Five, if you smoke, no smoking. Six, drink plenty of water. Seven, if you have pain, for example, no over the counter painkillers, they can cause more damage to your kidneys. And eight, most importantly, if you know you have diabetes, if you know you have high blood pressure or heart disease in your family, kidney stones, just get that check up. That’s the number one thing we want patients to do.”
The event will be held in the Lions parking lot near the K.H.M.H. and will occur between nine a.m. and four p.m. on March fifteenth.
Ruby Nicholas
“We know that kidney disease is on the rise. This is evidently shown by the amount of people. Who are calling and asking for assistance through the Kidney Association of Belize. We’re trying to ensure that educational awareness become an important aspect of the association to try to ring the alarm out there for people to know that this kidney disease is not slowing down.It’s, as a matter of fact, we are having too many people with dialysis, doing dialysis, too many people causing to pass away. because of the lack of funds. So prevention for us is an important aspect of it. And tomorrow will be a revelation of what it is to do a preventative care using it as a health fair.”
The Privy Council in London has overturned the murder conviction of Jamaican dancehall artist Vybz Kartel. The forty-eight-year-old was given a life sentence in 2014 for the killing of Clive “Lizard” Williams. Kartel’s successful appeal argued that a juror accused of trying to bribe others should have been thrown off his trial. The Court of Appeal in Jamaica will now decide whether the case should be retried.
The Orange Walk Running Rebel announced earlier today that it “will not be able to continue participating in the 2024 BEBL tournament as it has become excruciating operating, organising, and competing under the present structure and leadership.”
The announcement was made on Facebook.
The team said, “We know the news is disappointing, but unless we get the change we had believed in and hoped for, elite basketball has not and will not change.”
The Orange Walk Running Rebel also said that it will remain active by continuing its work with youths and preparing for the 2025 season.
Luis Siapas was fatally chopped early this morning while at an establishment in St. Margaret’s Village in the Cayo District. According to witnesses, the victim was at La Rumba Restaurant and Bar when he was attacked by some men who chopped him in the head, face, throat, and hands.
Blood stains on pool table at restaurant where murder occurred.
The victim’s common-law-wife, Julisa Narajo, told News Five that before the deadly attack, Siapas was calm and happy. She said she was alerted to the attack by her neighbour. As to a suspected motive, she said, “At no point did he have any problem with the men who attacked him.”
The Belize Police Department has confirmed that fifty-nine-year-old Robert Joseph has been charged with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
A tragic shooting incident at the Belmopan Market claimed the lives of Laura Fiorito, aged forty, and eight-year-old Megan Klassen, a neighbour’s child. Security cameras captured when they were fatally shot by Joseph, who had been living in Belize since 2012.
The incident occurred while Fiorito, her husband, Salvatore Lopes, and their two children were at Paradise Café.
Security cameras captured the interactions between the victims and Robert Joseph
The motive behind Joseph’s attack has left many puzzled. He claims the family attempted to poison him.
Police Commissioner Chester Williams told reporters yesterday, “Police have interviewed a number of persons in respect to that matter and we are trying to see how we can come up with a definitive motive…We are still trying to put the pieces together. We have gathered several statements and we have obtained some video footages that is helping the investigation pretty good. So, the accused was immediately detained by the police and the weapon used was also detained by police. So we have a good case going forward.”
Vybz Kartel, the Jamaican dancehall artist, has had his murder conviction overturned. He was sentenced to life in 2014 for the 2011 killing of his associate, forty-eight-year-old Clive “Lizard” Williams. Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, along with three co-defendants, successfully appealed on the grounds of juror misconduct. The decision to uphold the appeal means that authorities in Jamaica will now consider whether to retry the case.
Kartel faced one of the longest trials in Jamaican history, spanning 64 days. Throughout the trial and subsequent appeal, Kartel and his co-accused, Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St. John, maintained their innocence.
The recent appeal before the Privy Council, Jamaica’s highest court of appeal, revealed that a juror accused of attempting to bribe fellow jurors was allowed to remain on the case, influencing the final verdicts.
The Council deemed this action “fatal to the safety of the convictions,” citing it as a violation of the defendants’ right to a fair trial. While other allegations, such as undue pressure on jurors and improper handling of mobile phone evidence, were raised, the Council’s ruling focused primarily on the seriousness of the bribery accusations, leading to the dismissal of the guilty verdicts.
Prosecutors had relied on cellphone records and testimony from Lamar “Wee” Chow, the sole eyewitness, who said that Williams was killed at Kartel’s home in Havendale, St. Andrew, in August 2011.
A child and a woman from the Agua Viva community, just outside of Belmopan, are dead following a shooting incident inside the Belmopan Market. Forty-year-old Laura Fiorito and her husband Salvatore Lopes were at Paradise Café along with their two children and eight-year-old Megan Klassen, their neighbor’s child, when a gunman attacked them. Both Fiorito and Klassen were fatally wounded. The alleged shooter, fifty-nine-year-old Haitian American, Robert Joseph has since been detained by police. The incident has sent shockwaves across the relatively peaceful Capital City, especially since the incident occurred in broad daylight during one of the market’s busiest days of the week. But why would Joseph want to target this family? He alleges that they tried to poison him. News Five’s Paul Lopez was able to obtain some surveillance footage of Joseph’s initial interaction with the family, before he pulled out a firearm and opened fire. Here is that report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
This is the moment, fifty-nine-year-old Haitian American National Robert Joseph and his son twenty-two-year-old David Joseph walked up to a couple that were sitting in front of Paradise Café eating up a cup of ice cream. The woman, identified forty-four-year-old Laura Fiorito is heard expressing surprise and excitement, as if seeing a friend for the first time in a long time. Her common-law husband Salvatore Lopes rose to shake Robert’s hand. She then got up from the bench and shook his hand. They continued to exchange pleasantries and soon after David Joseph walks off. Robert Joseph stayed behind and the couple sat back down. They are heard asking him about some construction work. It was at that moment that Joseph pulled a firearm from his waste and opened fire on the couple. In the process he killed Laura Fiorito. He then turned his weapon on three children that were with them, seven-year-old Tristan Lopes and eleven-year –old Sarah Lopes, the couple’s children, and eight-year-old Megan Klassen, their neighbor’s child. Klassen also lost her life. Ronaldo Logan co-owns the Belmopan Market and Paradise Café. He witnessed the ordeal.
Ronaldo Logan
Ronaldo Logan, Co-Owner, Belmopan Market
“The couple mih the sit down over there by the table, they get up, sit down, regular lee conversation, the guy ask them unu nuh start build yet. He say, no no, we nuh start build yet. Deh not even raise their voice, deh nuh give nobody like a warning that deh wah do something like that. I nuh know what set off the man, because he just come do that yah, because he had to pass several cameras. We have six cameras, right under the business have three big ones and that is why we keep them exposed so that we could actually see that somebody the sih yo, apart from all the eyes in the market.”
The suspect, Robert Joseph owned Super Palm Resort, a small accommodation just outside of Belmopan that was recently transformed into an Airbnb. No one was at the location this morning and most of the doors were left open. Several decks of cards, coins in various currencies and other items were scattered across a table in a living area at the entrance of the building. Reports are that Fiorito and Lopes were living at the Airbnb several months ago, after moving to Belize from the Netherlands.
Ronaldo Logan
“After I hear the gunshot, I gawn sih what I can do. Then the guy after he shoot yah, he gawn chase the kids in the playground. While we the exchange, I the try tell the guy mek he hold it down, yo done do foolishness and I mih the curse a lot. I seh, why you come do this dah this establishment, you really mess up a good business that me and my business partner the try keep open.”
According to Logan, when the shooter turned his attention to the children, two of them, Tristan Lopes and Megan Klassen ran towards the parking lot where their vehicle was parked. Eleven-year-old Sarah Lopes ran for cover, assisted by a market employee, she hid inside the restroom. In this video, that employee is seen holding on to a wounded and terrified Sarah Lopes. Sarah and her brother, though badly injured would survive the attack. But, eight-year-old Megan Klassen succumbed to the injuries she sustained. We spoke with her uncle.
John
John, Uncle of Megan Klassen
“My brother’s daughter, Megan was picked up by their neighbor, it seems that is the arrangement they had with their neighbors, dropping them off and picking them up. So, their neighbor picked up the children from school yesterday and stopped by this ice-cream place here where supposedly one of their friends met them, handshake the father of the deceased lady, his wife and the two of the children that were shot and Megan who was shot to death. They decided to pass by this place to have a treat for the children. They were playing in the playground when a man they know very well, approached him, handshake him and began to shoot.”
A police officer quickly responded to the scene and fired two warning shots in the sky. The suspect then threw his gun to the ground and surrendered himself.
Ronaldo Logan
“Lucky enough when he the do all of that and i the cuss ah up the try get ah fih surrender, lucky enough a police guy was in the area and the police guys did a real good job. the hall tell the man i dah the police. When I see him the walk towards me again, I run behind a building and the man throw his firearm and the police come behind and me and my brother in law help apprehend the man, you know.”
According to Logan, the shooter was begging him to take his life. The suspect also alleged, while being detained, that the couple he targeted was trying to poison him and his son while they were living at the Airbnb.
John
“I cannot say anything on what type of relationship they had, if it is true or not. Anybody can make up stories that they could have poisoned them, but does that give them to right to kill anyone, to kill innocent children, because probably they ate something and he felt bad, that doesn’t make any sense to me. To my knowledge they were a very friendly family and even the man that shot them, they said he was their friend as well. So I have, in my opinion, I do not understand what happened.”
Paradise Café were closed for business today. Black bows hung in front of the store in honor of the slain victims. This afternoon, people sat next to the café having lunch seemingly unphased by shooting incident that occurred less than twenty-four hours earlier.
Paul Lopez
“How difficult is it for you as an investor who has poured your resources into this business for something like this to happen.”
Ronaldo Logan
“I had to say from the get go for me and David from we start, it has been a hard struggle. We gone far and beyond to try and build what paradise is about. It is like sometimes I see people sit down and I always steer with a passion. I said, what was Belmopan before we open this. When I was cursing the guy I tell him mein, if you only know how hard it is to keep these doors open.”
