A woman took to Facebook last night to say that her daughter was the victim of an attempted abduction. According to the mother, the incident happened at around 4 p.m. yesterday.
She wrote, “I was about to take a bathe a little after 4pm while my daughter played in the yard with a neighbors child… Not even 3 minutes and the other child came and alerted me that someone was taking my child.”
She said she quickly pursued the man. She says that she has filed a police report.
According to the mother, the man told her daughter that he would buy her “chips and she seh she tell he no but she she mi fraid fi scream caz she neva want d man hurt her.”
“Parents please keep unu kids inside!!! They have some real maniac and child molesters bout the place!”
The roles public healthcare plays in tourism are not being overlooked by the Belize Tourism Board, nor the ministry of Tourism. That is the message shared by the members of the tourism sector as they bolster their efforts to enhance the quality of service provide to Belizean citizens and visitors. Today, at the inauguration of the Placencia Polyclinic, which was built through the efforts of the B.T.B. and the Ministry of Health and Wellness, we asked Minister of Tourism Anthony Mahler what other areas the ministry is planning to work on next. Here’s his response.
Britney Gordon
“Are there any other areas that the BTB is looking to specifically target in regards to health care?”
Anthony Mahler, Minster of Tourism
“Actually, we’ve been having discussions with the area reps from Cayo district to see if we can partner in building surgery facility and operating room because they don’t have one in the western regional hospital or whatever it is called. But we’re looking at that and other projects.”
An interdepartmental response team training spearheaded by the Taiwanese government, concluded in Belmopan on Monday. The workshop saw the participation of the National Meteorological Service, the Hydrology Unit, the National Emergency Management Organization, as well as the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Climate Change. On hand for the closing ceremony was Minister Orlando Habet.
Orlando Habet
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
“It is imperative also imperative that we enhance and improve the existing systems and programs set in place for disaster risk reduction. However, to ensure these services and operations, other key priority areas must be properly handled to ensure the effectiveness of such services, addressing disaster problems holistically and mainstreaming disaster risk management into development strategies and undertakings is vital in the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction. In addition, the necessity of hazard mapping and vulnerability assessment and the adoption of disaster risk management processes at all levels as a critical undertaking to reduce risks and vulnerabilities should be emphasized.”
Ronald Gordon
Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist
“One of the things that we are implementing this hurricane season is to do a daily briefing, virtual of course, but between these three agencies. We do a briefing once per day within our department itself, the forecasters will be briefing other forecasters on the weather conditions, but what we are going to do this season is to have that briefing extended to NEMO and to [the] Hydrology Unit so that we can get their input and we provide the weather forecast and the hydrology tells us how this will be and what are the implications of this forecast for flooding and, of course, NEMO will be dealing with the response part and the preparations. So certainly that’s one way that we’re going to be enhancing that collaboration.”
The United Democratic Party (UDP) is calling for the immediate resignation or removal of Michel Chebat from the Ministry of Public Utilities. In a statement, the UDP criticised Chebat’s leadership in the ministry. The party said that it has led “unwarranted suffering of the Belizean people, especially the people of the Cayo North constituency.”
The UDP says “Chebat must go in order for the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Public Utilities Commission to prioritise the needs of the public once again.”
In a statement to News 5, Chabet said, “I was elected to serve all the people of Cayo North. Since my election I have been in discussions with BWS to bring water to the communities in Cayo North that do not have access to water. This particular area has increased significantly and the people are without the basic neccessity that water provides. It is my duty to find a permanent solution to that issue. This is not about band aid solutions like the UDP doing.”
Chebat further stated, “The residents deserve to have access to clean running water. And I make no excuse for lobbying to bring water to them.”
According to Chebat, “BWS will regain their initial investment through water bills. That is what plan Belize is all about…we are about bringing permanent solutions for the people and not about grand standing like the UDP.”
Last week, an immigration officer, forty-eight-year-old Saul Lisbey, was arrested for the crime of wounding. He stands accused of assaulting a woman at the western border office on Monday, May 6.
The video shows an immigration officer exiting his booth, andwalking towards the woman before pushing her to the ground. The woman hit her head and was taken to the hospital.
Tanya Santos, the Chief Executive Officer of Immigration, confirmed that Lisbey had been placed on administrative leave pending further investigation. In an interview, Santos stated that the incident involved an immigration officer and a member of the public, with video footage corroborating the details. Santos emphasised that such behaviour was unacceptable and assured the public that thorough measures would be taken to address the matter.
The official opening of the Jaguar Station at Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve marks a significant milestone in conservation efforts. The new reserve was made possible by the generous support of dedicated partners such as the GEF Small Grants Programme – Belize, and the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Climate Change.
The establishment of the Jaguar Station provides rangers with a secure base to enhance surveillance and protection of the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve. This is a significant development for conservation efforts. The ceremony, held in western Belize, celebrated the establishment of the Jaguar Station, replacing the former basic accommodations that posed challenges for the reserve’s rangers.
The construction of this state-of-the-art facility totaled $450,000.
A man and a woman were murdered inside their small home in the Hilltop area of Roaring Creek just before nine-thirty on Sunday night. A third person, the woman’s fifteen-year-old son, was shot in his leg but survived. He is in the Western Regional Hospital receiving treatment. The incident has come as a shock to the community because the residents say the couple were peaceful residents who have lived there for the past five years. But while police are looking for leads and suspects, they say it has nothing to do with the recent State of Emergency which also saw some residents of Roaring Creek swept up and incarcerated. The victims are Morcel Neal and Saida Perez. Investigators have different perspectives on who the intended target was. Marion Ali visited Roaring Creek today and has that report.
Voice of: First Responder
Voice of: First Responder
“He said “they just shot Ms Chaya da back deh,” he said “but I afraid fi goh me one. I want somebody to go with me.” So I tell ah right now because the place is relatively dark.”
Son
Marion Ali, Reporting
The voice that this Roaring Creek resident heard calling out in front of his house last night was that of another resident who heard the shots that had just killed two residents and wounded a minor. The victims, Saida Perez and her common-law husband, Morcel Neal, both forty-seven, were at home when they came under attack. Perez’s fifteen-year-old son was also shot in his leg and is in the Western Regional Hospital. The resident told News Five that he accompanied his neighbour to the murder scene and tried to keep the premises secure for police processing.
Voice of: First Responder
“I went with him and then that is when the other people arrived – a lady who identified herself as the daughter and said she wanted to check for her mother so I tell her “you could go in but try not to contaminate the scene. And it went into the metal house, the zinc house. And that’s where she found her mother.”
Saida Perez
Another resident said she was talking to a neighbour when she heard a barrage of gunshots.
Voice of: Neighbour
Voice of: Neighbour
“I was sitting with the next neighbor. We were talking and we heard like a lot of shots. So I nuh count how much and then I tell her that sound like shots, right? And then she said “I’m going home.” So I tell her go home because I wa lock up.”
Today, Police Commissioner, Chester Williams assured that this attack was not related to the recent state of emergency in which a number of Roaring Creek residents were incarcerated. He and Assistant Commissioner, Hilberto Romero said the incident had to do with a dispute.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The victims are not known to be involved in drugs or gangs or anything other than the fact that we know that the deceased’s husband was somewhat of an alcoholic. What we’re gathering that there was some dispute with some people yesterday, and that is what may have led to that particular murder. We’re still trying to confirm certain things.”
Hilberto Romero
ASP Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division
“Information is that both were at their house at Warren Creek when a person with a firearm entered and fired shots towards Syedah Pierce, causing her fatal injuries. Thereafter, Morcel Neal appeared and he was also shot. We are trying to establish a motive for this murder. The information we have got out that the female was the target. She was shot and when the other person showed up, he was also shot.”
Alicia Perez, who lives in Belmopan, told us that her sister visited them two weeks ago and told them she wanted to see her son through high school.
Voice of: Alicia Perez
Voice of: Alicia Perez, Sister of Deceased
“She come here and then she just here, like here, and we was. She was talking about her son that she loved him a lot and she need to work hard for him. And that’s the only because his son father passed away. She was the only one who could help him. She was like two years. She didn’t come here till that day. She come and she was talking to us like, like a normal day and she went.”
Two people were fatally shot on Sunday night in Roaring Creek Village, Cayo District. The victims, Marcel Neal and his spouse, were inside their house with their fifteen-year-old son when they were attacked. The couple died on the scene. The teenage son was rushed to the Western Regional Hospital after being shot in the leg.
Roaring Creek Village falls under the state of emergency, which expired last week. Police Commissioner Chester Williams told reporters last week that he requested an extension of the state of emergency. That request was rejected by cabinet.
Williams is expected to brief the media about the double murder and other incidents that occurred over the weekend.
Police officially arrested and charged thirty-year-old Guatemalan Victor Manuel Castellanos. He stands accused of the murder of Pedro Antonio Hernandez and aggravated assault against Amelia Hernandez.
On Tuesday, Hernandez was murdered in his own yard after being lured outside by his assailant. Hernandez was chopped to death upon exiting his house.
Disunity is stirring within the Benque Viejo del Carmen Town Council as Deputy Mayor Jenny Martinez publicly announced her resignation via social media on Tuesday night. Martinez, appointed to the position following the recent municipal elections, attributed her decision to a perceived preference for a male deputy mayor over a female counterpart.
Martinez voiced her concerns, stating, “We women have the capability. Four men voted in favor of appointing a new deputy because they believe women are incapable of holding high government office.”
Despite receiving the second-highest number of votes and officially assuming the role of deputy mayor on March 19th, the council opted to reassess her appointment last month after being informed that the highest vote count does not automatically secure the position.
In a social media video, Martinez conveyed her disagreement with this decision, ultimately leading to her verbal resignation from the role of deputy mayor.
