Fifty-year-old Martin Carcamo, a security guard employed at the bus terminal here in Belize City, is in trouble with the law for stealing an iPhone 12 from a woman police officer. The incident happened around 6:30 a.m. on Monday at the Michael Finnegan Market where Corporal Georgina Bartley was having breakfast. She alleges that she placed her cell phone on the table while having the meal and, a few minutes later, she saw a tall, dark-skinned man approach the stall. Shortly thereafter, Bartley realized that her phone was missing. When she inquired about the whereabouts of the device, Carcamo reportedly walked away and headed in the direction of King Street. The twenty-eight-year-old woman, who was in casual attire, pursued Carcamo and informed him that she is a police officer and would call for backup if he did not produce the phone. Upon hearing that Carcamo surrendered the device. At the same time a police mobile approached and he was detained and taken into custody at the police station where he was later charged for theft. When he appeared before the lower court, Carcamo was arraigned on a single count of theft. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail in the sum of twelve hundred dollars, plus one surety of the same amount.
Category: Belize District
A New Acting Ports Commissioner is Appointed
Kaylon Young has been appointed Acting Ports Commissioner following the abrupt departure of former Ports Commissioner Darlin Gaitan last week. Earlier today, the Belize Port Authority announced that the appointment of Young, a seasoned professional in the maritime sector with over a decade of experience working at the B.P.A. Young holds a Master’s Degree in Maritime Affairs, specializing in Maritime Law and Policy from the World Maritime University.
A Belize City Woman is Shot After a Domestic Dispute
Twenty-two-year-old Jasmine Fortune was shot on Sunday morning, following a domestic dispute with her common-law husband. Police say that the couple was at Long Island Bar here in Belize City when they got into an altercation. She reported that her common-law, Barry Johnson, hit her. Fortune was taken to the Belama Police Station where she refused to cooperate with investigators. She subsequently left the precinct and was on her way home to Belama Phase One when multiple shots were fired in her direction, injuring her.
ACP Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division
“On Sunday June 30th, 2024, police responded to a shooting incident at Belama, in Belize City. Upon their arrival, they learned that a female, Jasmine Fortune, had received gunshot injuries. She was taken to the KHMH for treatment and she is presently listed in a critical condition. Investigation revealed that Jasmine Fortune was at her house inside a bedroom when several gunshots were heard and she had been shot. The scene was visited where several expended shells were found and bullet holes were found on a window that is by the bedroom. We are seeking several suspects in regards to this shooting.”
Reporter
“Wasn‘t there a prior altercation between this lady and someone known to her at an establishment?”
Hilberto Romero
“There was a report of a minor domestic issue in a nightclub. That is the information we have.”
Reporter
“I think she had spoken to the police before going home, is that so?”
Hilberto Romero
“Yes, she had visited the station to make a complaint and thereafter she went home.”
Jasmine Fortune is listed in a critical condition.
State of Emergency in Effect for Ninety Days
The alleged gang members who were swept up at the beginning of the state of emergency, in parts of Belize City and Cayo District, will spend the next three months behind bars at the Belize Central Prison. Earlier today, during the sitting of the House of Representatives, Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa read the proclamation declaring the S.O.E. and how long it will remain in effect.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“Now be it resolved that this honorable house extends the proclamation declaring a state of emergency in certain parts of Belize City and certain parts of the Cayo District made by the Governor General on June 24th, 2024 for a period of two months. This motion, Madam Speaker, has the recommendation of the Cabinet. And by way of explanation, Madam Speaker, we have arrived at a point where decisions, swift and certain, must be made to ensure that our Belize remains on track to be the best country in which to grow up and raise a family. We cannot do that in a country where a few feel that they have the power and impetus to wreak havoc on our streets, planting seeds of fear in the minds and hearts of hardworking and law abiding citizens of our country. Belize is certainly not a state where lawlessness, more especially that which leads to the senseless loss of life reigns supreme. We are even more certain that we will not allow any corner of our country to fall into a state of normalized lawlessness. Opening fire on a mother and child exiting their vehicle, or the elderly men riding on bicycles is not normal. Blazing bullets in the dead of night at a police station is not normal, and most certainly, shooting a barrage of bullets into the home of a senior public servant, the Commissioner of Police, no less, is not the Belizean way. These wayward activities will not be countenanced will not be tolerated and will not be condoned.”
Doris Grant and Austin Underwood Remain in Prison Under S.O.E.
Two weeks ago, an attempt on the lives of Doris Grant and her common-law husband, Austin Underwood was made while the two were on their way home from a Trinibad concert in Belize City. Grant’s name had been in the news on several occasions, following an arraignment in the lower court for obtaining property by deception, leading to several raids being conducted on her property. Just four days after the shooting, forty-eight-year-old Grant and thirty-one-year-old Underwood were charged with being a member of a gang. Today, an application for bail was submitted on behalf of Grant and Underwood by attorney Ronell Gonzalez, on the grounds that his clients needed more medical attention than what is currently being provided to them at the Belize Central Prison. Grant and Underwood were subsequently granted bail to the sum of five thousand dollars each. Despite this, the two are being held in prison for an additional ninety days, under the state of emergency. Here is Gonzalez with more details on his clients’ medical conditions.
Ronell Gonzalez, Defense Attorney
“I submitted and filed a detailed application for bail on behalf of both mister Underwood and Miss Grant and a major part of the application was to outline to the court their medical condition. Both are in serious need of medical treatment at this time. mister Underwood has suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg that I understand is being infected because of the lack of medical treatment at the prison. That is my instructions from him and that in fact, miss Grant also has an injury to the hand. Now, I have presented medical evidence to the court saying that both these individuals have bullet fragments. They have the lodging of the bullets in the skin and in the bone still. On behalf of mister Underwood, he has it in the bone. And I have the x-rays and so on that I presented to the court to explain that they are in desperate need of medical surgery. We have shown that there is medical referral saying that they need to undergo immediate surgery. After a period of time, as I understand it, these matters can become poisonous within the skin and therefore it causes a threat to, in this case, limbs and possible loss of limb to the leg and to the hand of miss Grant. So that is the position in terms of their medical condition at this time.”
Police Need Help Identifying John Doe
The Belize Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the body of a man that was found earlier today. This morning, at around five fifteen a.m., a man of Hispanic descent was pulled from the harbor near North Front Street in Belize City and has since been listed as a John Doe. The individual has several tattoos, including one of a cross surrounded by flames on his left arm. For those with information that can assist police with the investigation, contact crime stoppers, or make a report to the nearest police station.
Man Walks Free from Triple Murder Case
One of two suspects accused of a triple murder walked free today after being acquitted due to a lack of evidence. He is twenty-three-year-old Shawn Flores, who stood trial for the murder of Alarice Andrewin, Vidal Yuman and Maria Juarez. All three individuals were bound and shot during a home invasion at mile ten on the George Price Highway in June 2019. Subsequently, then nineteen-year-old Kyle Zetina was charged for the crime after video footage placed him at the scene and, then eighteen-year-old Shawn Flores was jointly charged. However, in the case of Flores, there was no evidence linking him to the crime other than his caution statement, which his defense claims was beaten out of him by police. With no other evidence to link him to the murder, Flores was acquitted this morning. Unlike his co-accused, the crown has presented substantial evidence to be admissible in the trial against Zetina. His trial will continue July fifteenth, 2024.
Police Department Needs Your Help in Identifying this Man
On Friday, June 28, 2024, around 5:15 a.m., the lifeless body of an unidentified Hispanic male was pulled from the sea near North Front Street, Belize City. The body has since been listed as John Doe. The Belize Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying him. If you have any information that can assist in this investigation, please call Crime Stoppers at 922, use the P3 APP, or report to the nearest police station.
Earl Baptist is Found Guilty of Murder
A long, violent dispute that resulted in the shooting death of thirty-seven-year-old Leslie Gillett in January 2022, was decided upon in the High Court this morning. Earl Baptist, a resident of Police Street, who stood trial for the murder of the Burrell Boom businessman, has been found guilty. He appeared before Justice Derick Sylvester and gave an unsupported alibi, telling the court that on the evening of the deadly shooting he was with his father and common-law wife at the Northern Fishermen‘s Cooperative. Despite providing the court with an explanation of his whereabouts, Baptist did not call on anyone to testify on his behalf. As we’ve reported, Gillett, otherwise known as Dimes, was gunned down by a pair of men who entered Matilda’s Shop on the night of January twenty-first, 2022. The men were there to exact revenge for a murder that took place in the village two years earlier. After pretending to make a purchase, the gunmen fired multiple shots at Gillett, who died at the scene of the shooting. During the subsequent trial, Sergeant Rollington Fuller testified that shortly after the shooting, he was invited to view the surveillance footage that was retrieved from cameras mounted inside the shop. Under oath, the police officer told the court that, from the video, he saw a Hispanic male with a white shirt and a camouflage facemask. Moments later, he saw two males approaching the shop. One of them was seen wearing a black face mask, with black stockings, and dreadlocks covering it. While Fuller was unable to determine the identity of the second person, he was able to positively identify Baptist. July fifteenth has been set as the date for mitigation pleas to be heard on Baptist’s behalf.
Denver Bevans Walks Free from Fireman’s Murder
While a conviction was secured in the High Court this morning, a murder suspect also managed to walk away from a charge that was brought against him in November 2019. Denver Bevans was accused of the shooting death of a Belize City fireman who was ambushed and executed while walking along Welch Street. The first person to respond to the scene of the deadly shooting was Corporal Briceño Chub, an off-duty police officer, who was returning from a nearby shop. After hearing what sounded like gunshots, he saw someone running. He later identified that individual as eighteen-year-old Denver Bevans. In trial, Corporal Chub told the court that when he initially saw Bevans, he was seventy-five feet away, but when he saw him with the firearm which he held up before scaling a fence, he was only fifteen feet away. Nonetheless, when Chub testified to seeing the suspect at Rogers Stadium after he was detained by police and placed in the back of a pickup truck, he only saw the top of the individual’s head. In court, Chub was unable to identify the man seen running in the footage to be the same person detained by police. This and other factors, including the absence of a D.N.A. test to determine the blood found on Bevans’ shirt, led the court to find Bevans not guilty of murder.