The Association of Beneficiaries and Retired Public Officers has mobilized its members for a second public protest in Belmopan today to express disappointment and dissatisfaction with the Government’s failure to honor the then Prime Minister’s pledge made in December 2022.
According to ABRPO, it was promised that Public Service Workers’ Trust Fund would be dissolved so that beneficiaries can receive monies owed to them since 1997.
The PSWT’s audited financial statements reveal concerning mismanagement, including the write-off of over $101,000 in loans to unions, associations, and individuals purportedly affiliated with beneficiaries. Additionally, more than $500,000 has been allocated for legal services from the Trust fund.
The Association holds successive Attorney Generals responsible for disregarding legally sound recommendations. It says that this situation represents clear discrimination against the elderly, many of whom have passed without receiving compensation.
Guatemalan truck driver, Tony Duarte, is lucky to be alive today after the container truck he was driving overturned. The incident happened near mile fifty-six on the George Price Highway earlier this afternoon. Duarte sustained injuries, and ambulance services arrived promptly.
A fire in San Ignacio Town broke out at around 12:30 a.m. today. Juan Tzib and his family were asleep in their residence on Rodriguez Street when the fire broke out. Tzib was awakened by his daughter, who alerted him to the fire.
It is suspected that the fire began in a “back room” in the yard. The fire spread quickly, and the family was not able to save anything.
No one was injured. Firefighters are investigating the cause.
If you would like to help the family, you can contact 621-4179.
The latest murder victim is a forty-year-old father from Saint Margaret’s Village. Luis Seapas was socializing at a restaurant and bar in the village when he was hacked to death by three men. His attackers are also from the community and known to the deceased. The incident occurred sometime after midnight inside the bar. There is currently no information to suggest that Seapas and his attackers had any prior altercation, in fact they have been seen socializing together in the village. The horrific ordeal unfolded in front of the establishment’s employees, much to their dismay. So, what could have led to the deadly altercation? New’s Five’s Paul Lopez travelled to Saint Margaret’s Village today where we spoke with the family of the deceased and the owner of the establishment. Here is that report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
A night out at La Rumba Restaurant and Bar in Saint Margaret’s Village ended tragically for one man. Forty-year-old Luis Seapas was socializing at the establishment after midnight on Thursday, when a group of men, armed with a machete, attacked him. We spoke off camera with the owner of the establishment who says that the entire ordeal played out in front of her employees. They ran from the restaurant and bar to her home nearby to seek refuge.
Voice of: Owner of La Rumba Bar
“I start to receive information around two-thirty when they came here to my house running. The girls were frightened and the one that saw the chopping fainted when she came here. The other girls told me that this was happening, three guys came in and chopped the other one and I asked them if he is dead or just injured. They said they chopped him a lot, on his face, but I didn’t want to believe.”
Julissa Najaro, Seapas’ common-law wife, says he arrived home from work on Wednesday evening, ran some errands and thereafter informed her that he was on his way to purchase gas. But Seapas never returned home. He instead went to La Rumba Restaurant and Bar.
Julissa Najaro
Julissa Najaro, Common-Law-Wife
“Well, he came from work like at around five o’clock in the evening. And he was not very calm. He was happy. No, we never thought that that would have happened. And then went to run an errand with my child, he is fifteen-year-old and then he came back. He came off from the motorcycle and said he would buy gasoline. And then, well, it seems like he bought the gasoline and then it seems like he went to the bar in the restaurant upstairs. And well, I found out how at about one-thirty. And then a neighbor came to tell us and my eldest son, his son who is eighteen-years-old, went to go to the bar with the neighbor. His dad had not died yet. It seems that he, I don’t know if it was at around twelve or twelve thirty, I don’t know, but around one thirty he was still alive.”
Seapas reportedly expressed concern when his attackers entered the bar. But they assured him that they were not there to harm him, according to the owner of the establishment.
Voice of: Owner of La Rumba Bar
“These three guys, Mayans come inside and stand in front of the man they chopped and told him don’t be afraid we are your friends, and the other one was standing, and the other one was beside him and the other one was a little bit far and he told him, don’t be afraid of my son, we are your friends, and he hug the man. And when he hugged the man, the other guy takes out his machete and chopped him. And the guy that was chopped ran, but the next guy came behind him and chopped him on his back. And because he couldn’t open the door, they gave him another one, but this time on the neck and that is when the guy fall.”
Seapas leaves behind four children. His common-law wife says he never once informed her that his life was in danger.
Julissa Najaro
“Well, I don’t know, I don’t know because he never told me anything like that. He was always calm. I never imagined what that would happen to him. You hear things about them but never something like what happened. They lived there. Their mother lives there. She lives. Yes, she is her sister, but nothing different like that has ever been seen.”
Fifty-nine-year-old Haitian American Robert Joseph was today arrested and charged with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. Jospeh is accused of killing forty-year-old Laura Fiorito and eight-year-old Megan Klessan with a firearm, while injuring two other minors and firing at a Fiorito’s common-law-husband. Joseph was arraigned today at the Belmopan Magistrates Court unrepresented. He was denied bail, due to the nature of the offense, and remanded to the Belize Central Prison. As we have reported, Joseph and his son visited Paradise Café in the Belmopan Market where they met Fiorito and her common-law wife. He engaged in a brief conversation with them before pulling out a firearm and opening fire. Three primary school children were also with the couple. Joseph turned his focus on the children and fatally injured one. Fiorito’s common-law-husband was the only one who escaped the attack without any physical injuries.
As we reported in last night’s newscast, a man lost his life in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday as he was driving up the Philip Goldson highway near mile one. The police department has not yet released any information on the accident, but we understand that Clarke was driving up the highway when a van that tried to overtake him knocked him down sometime around two in the afternoon. News Five’s Marion Ali has the story in this report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
An auditor lost his life in a motorcycle accident in Belize City on Wednesday afternoon. It happened at the entrance of the Philip Goldson Highway, almost in front of A and R Store, and claimed the life of Ishmarley Clarke. News Five met his brother, Fisean Clarke at the scene of the accident. He told us that he had just spoken to Ishmarley a couple days prior to the unfortunate accident and then tried again to reach him about an hour before he died.
Fisean Clarke
Fisean Clarke, Brother of deceased
“I spoke to him on the phone about 2,3 days before this incident, asking him if I could stay at his house. Because I wanted to move from Orange Walk back to Belize [City]. I never did get an answer. I can’t do it again. I can’t do it again. I just, I will try my best to be for my brother and mi niece and nephew them. I got one more brother and niece and nephew right deh soh, so I have to try my best you know. I have to try my best. I neva know this mi wa happen and I di try call ah from one o’clock yesterday afternoon, yeah and he never answer his phone. I suppose to ketch the bus and come to Belize [City] yesterday. I didn’t know all this was going to take place, mein.”
Clarke did not die at the scene. A security guard who works near the location where the accident happened told us off-camera that immediately after the accident, Clarke appeared to be motionless, but then he sat up before the ambulance took him to the hospital.
Voice of: Witness
Voice of: Witness
“I mi deh right ya da work, so I mi just gone tek a lee patrol and I just hear something gone Bang! I never conscious da wa accident. I mi see lotta students right deh and I see a student and I ask what happened and they say it’s an accident. I come and I see the bally motionless on the ground. A lee bit afterwards, like before when the ambulance reached the individual get up, he get up and he sit down and watch his foot.”
Marion Ali
“As in stand up?”
Voice of Witness:
“No, he only sit down right there. He sit down and then when he see ih foot, it’s really bad injury. And then they told him not to move, but then he was touching his foot that bruk, he was touching it. And they told him, don’t move ’cause the ambulance is coming right ahead. And then how it’s a lot of traffic, the ambulance couldn’t get a break to pass. Then finally the ambulance came and then they managed to assist him.”
Marion Ali
“So he was still sitting up when they took him?”
Voice of: Witness
“Yeah, the ambulance, when the ambulance reach he was sitting down and he lay down back again.”
Clarke suffered a badly broken right leg and a gash on his head. His death is a lesson, his brother told us, and a reminder of how fragile life is. Ishmarley, he said, had plans to help his siblings.
Fisean Clarke
“His plan was to get a – get some more land for the family that we don’t need to go through a whole heap of problems in the future, assist the family with land and stuff like the properties and things that we need to achieve. Fi this happen to he and my family, I hope everybody could see that ih nuh impossible, ih nuh impossible, ih nuh impossible.”
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.”
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.”
Reporters caught up with Commissioner of Police Chester Williams earlier today. He was asked if police have established a motive for the shooting. ComPol Williams explained that the accused claims that the family tried to poison him and that his claims are still being investigated. ComPol Williams also revealed that investigators have gathered surveillance footage from the market that is proving to be helpful.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“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. From what we have gathered so far from persons who were in the immediate area when the shooting happened is that the accused person arrived at the market, had a discussion with the family who he eventually targeted, where he accused them of allegedly poisoning him. We have also learnt that the victims had rented a house as the accused do owns an Airbnb rental and the victims had rented a house from him for a period of six months. They left that house in January and moved to the Agua Viva area. He was saying that at the time when they rented that house, they were trying to poison him and that is why they were targeted. 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.”
Paul Lopez
“Do you know how long the detainee was living in Belize?”
Chester Williams
“He was here for quite a number of years, from 2010 to 2011 thereabout, because a check of our records shows he got a gun license in 2012. So he would have had to be here before 2012.”
