On November sixteenth, Sabela Brakeman, a mother of three, endured a terrifying ordeal when her estranged husband, Kenny Brakeman, broke into her San Pedro home and kidnapped her. The harrowing sequence of events saw Sabela beaten and taken on a jet ski to the shores near Caye Caulker. Miraculously, she managed to escape by jumping off and swimming to safety. Though she survived, Sabela was left with severe injuries, including broken facial bones and loose teeth. She told News Five that a private surgeon estimated her surgeries would cost around twenty thousand dollars, and they can only be performed at a private hospital in Belize. Meanwhile, Kenny Brakeman remains at large, and Sabela lives in constant fear that he might find her again. Despite this, she is determined to move forward with her life. To help cover her medical expenses, Sabela is organizing a fundraiser with a barbeque sale this Friday in Bella Vista Village, where she now lives with her children. She needs your support to get the surgeries she desperately needs.
Sabela Brakeman
On the Phone: Sabela Brakeman, Kidnap Victim
“The doctor told me that he don’t do surgery and at KHMH they don’t do that kind of surgery. So he then recommended me to Dr. Hernandez, who told me that was the only doctor that do surgery in Belize for the type of facial surgery that I need. So, I went to Dr. Hernandez. He did an x-ray, then from there he sent me to Medical (Associates) to do a 3-D and in the result, it shows what all damage that I have. The estimate for Dr. Hernandez, just for doing surgery, would be $7,500 and then the three days, stay at Medical, and the medication that I would need, everything would be nineteen thousand, nine hundred and twenty dollars. So, I’m looking for assistance to see if anyone is willing to donate something towards my medical, my surgery. Are you doing, are you doing any fundraisers of your own? I plan to do a barbecue fundraising. And then we suffer Friday to see how much money I can do fundraising with so that’s the only plan I have right now, to try seek help and better get the money together.”
In November, San Pedro resident Sabela Brakeman was taken from her room and beaten by her estranged husband. She recounted how he took her on a jet ski to Caye Caulker, where she managed to escape and seek help from the Caye Caulker Police. Nearly a month has passed since the incident, and Brakeman still needs funds for surgeries to repair her teeth and broken cheekbone. Today, she told us over the phone that she has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to set a date for the surgery.
Sabela Brakeman, Kidnapping Victim
“Some people assist with donations. I had some friends who did a barbecue fundraising for me in San Pedro, which didn’t come out the way my friends expected, but they did manage to fundraise something for me. So, with that money that I got, I will do my surgery and see how it goes. I do want to get justice because then I care about my life. Like right now, I’m traveling to see a doctor. What if he tries to hurt me or he’s somewhere nearby. So that’s the reason I really would want they catch him before he tries to do me something.”
Sabela Brakeman was visibly shaken and afraid when she spoke to News 5 today. Brakeman, a resident of San Pedro Town, was brutally beaten and kidnapped, allegedly by her ex-partner, Kenny Brakeman, on Friday night.
Sabela told News 5 that she and her roommate were asleep at home when they were violently awakened by an intruder. “When she screamed, it was my ex with some gloves on his hand and a stick that he was knocking her, and when I woke up, I was frightened. Then I just saw him knock her, then I just screamed too, and then he knocked me,” Sabela recalled.
She described how, despite her efforts to defend herself, he dragged her from the bed and began assaulting her relentlessly. “He hit me on my head, my forehead, and my mouth,” she said, visibly shaken by the memory. Her roommate managed to escape to seek help.
After knocking her unconscious, he dragged her outside, placed her in a red golf cart, and began driving towards his home. “He kept driving in his direction where he lives, and he says, ‘let me see which @%$hole will save you now. You don’t want to be with me. If you are not for me, you are for nobody else.'”
She was taken to a dock, where she was then placed on a jet ski. “We drive off…maybe 30 minutes. When we drove off now, he said, ‘I think that is Chetumal. This is Corozal. And that one, I don’t know which part that one. But if you relax and don’t say anything, I will let you go to Corozal. And I’m going across the border because police won’t catch me.'”
Sabela, still struggling, managed to escape when they reached a dock in Caye Caulker Village. “That’s when I knocked him, and I managed to escape him. I reached a dock, where I climbed the dock. And while I was climbing the dock, I was already feeling dizzy. I climbed the dock. When I climbed the dock, I continued to walk. I was running, crossing the street all over. Because the blood was too much on my face. Then, I see two golf carts go this side, this direction, yes. So I said, no one…I can’t see any people on the street. So I said those two golf carts. I have to follow them to seek help.”
She eventually found refuge at a police station, where she recounted the traumatic events. She was taken to the Caye Caulker Polyclinic for treatment, where doctors informed her that she would need surgery for broken gums and multiple other injuries, including bruises and cuts on her body.
“What I can say is he had an intention of killing me because he had even gloves on. He had on gloves.”
Police have detained and charged four members of a Belmopan family in connection with the kidnapping and sexual assault of a twenty-three-year-old pregnant woman. The four were arraigned today in Belmopan Magistrates Court, where bail was denied, and they were remanded to Belize Central Prison until January 22, 2025. News Five’s Paul Lopez spoke with a relative of the victim, who shared that he came forward to shed light on the torment inflicted on her by the accused. Here’s more on that report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
A family of four accused of kidnapping, aggravated assault, wounding, and sexual assault is tonight behind bars at the Belize Central Prison. The victim, a twenty-three-year-old pregnant woman, remains hospitalized tonight. One of the alleged perpetrators is her husband, twenty-four-year-old Luis Tiul Jr. Their relationship began inside a church as a beautiful love story. This is according to the victim’s brother, Wilmer Cruz.
Wilmer Cruz
Wilmer Cruz, Brother of Victim
“They attend this church and deh the guh and guh and guh and I get invited one time and it was so beautiful and the people were so beautiful. One time I meet this family and the lee gial grow up and at the age of eighteen she meets this lee bally that is the pastor’s son and they decided to get married.”
And after marriage, the couple had a child.
Wilmer Cruz
“When they married they start to live together and all this while I don’t know about them like that because we are not into, I have my own to tend to. They had a kid together and now this turn out to be the case now, a surprising story, meanwhile all this while I though they were living happily and everything.”
The victim’s family believed that if there was any safe place for her, it would be in the home of a pastor since she is married to his son. But that trust was shattered on Wednesday when police conducted an operation at the pastor’s home, discovering the woman, seven months pregnant, severely injured, tied to a step, and forced to sit in her own waste. According to police, the husband’s family held her captive after she attempted to leave him. Videos obtained by News 5 show the victim in a hospital bed, lying down in excruciating pain.
Wilmer Cruz
“Back then I hear a lee thing that the lee gial mih want separate and thing like that right. But from then I never hear no more form that, but now surprisingly my mom call me and said son, you hear what happen with the lee gial, she the eena hospital. I said, what cant’ be. I run to the hospital and when I see the lee gial, she the eena wah terrible condition. I find her in a condition like when you torture somebody, kidnap somebody and find them in a room, like a movie scene. Her hands all burned, swell, her feet scarred like they were tied. The lee gial maga, and she is pregnant. First thing come into your mind dah guh murder somebody and that is wrong, because I put myself in trouble. That is why I want justice serve among these people, because I want them to know that she have family to.”
The alleged culprits are forty-five-year-old Luis Tiul Senoir, Tiul Junior, forty-three-year-old Elizabeth Tiul and fifty-nine-year-old Matilda Games, who were all arraigned this morning in Belmopan. The charges range from administering noxious matter to aggravated assault, wounding, sexual assault, and kidnapping. We asked the family for comments as they were escorted by police.
Paul Lopez
“You guys have anything to say, you guys have anything to say? Are the allegations true. Are you a true a pastor. Do you have anything to say sir? Are the allegations true?”
Neither of the two men responded to our questions. A man who identified himself as Tiul senior’s son attempted to stop us from asking more questions.
Paul Lopez
“Please I am doing a job, are the allegations true? Do you have anything to say? Sir, do you have anything to say? Is the allegations against your family true, would you like to clarify?”
And then this happened.
“Move dah Camera, front of my face, move dah camera, front of my face. Move dah camera front ah my face.”
Wilmer Cruz
“To my acknowledgement the family has the same mentality like the accused. All of them look like they have the same vibe and the same mentality, because that tribe is a nutsy tribe. You see how they gone atta you and the camera man suh deh, that means you have people that will have to be caregul of those people, because they don’t think, they just act.”
Paul Lopez
“One of the questions that people are asking is where is her family, is it a case where the family was not checking up on her because they thought she was ok and living a happy life?”
Wilmer Cruz
“My mom told me that she nuh know because she doesn’t keep up like that. She knows that she lives with them and she have she business and kids and everybody have their own. So, if you decide to live then you suppose to live in a condition and maybe she couldn’t get to my mom, because they had her kidnapped.”
Paul Lopez
“Is it regretful though and perhaps a lesson that as family we should check up a bit more on our loved ones?”
Wilmer Cruz
“Correct we should check up on our loved ones, but when we talk about they married, everybody should keep in their own process. But in this condition, this is a big thing concerned to every Belizean, check up on your kids, check up on your family, stuff like that.”
Tonight, the Belmopan community is shocked following a disturbing report of a kidnapping allegedly committed by a pastor and his family. The trio allegedly held a 23-year-old woman captive inside their home for eight harrowing days. The victim? None other than the pastor’s own daughter-in-law. According to reports, the young woman had tried to escape her troubled marriage, seeking refuge with her family. However, she returned to her husband’s home, and that’s when the nightmare began. Her father-in-law, a trusted religious leader, is accused of tying her up and keeping her bound inside the house, turning the place of worship into a house of horrors. News Five’s Paul Lopez travelled to the Capital City today, speaking to shocked residents as the investigation into this disturbing case continues.
Paul Lopez
Paul Lopez
“We are standing in front of a home on John Saldivar Boulevard in the City of Belmopan where a pastor and his wife and son allegedly held a woman captive, for eight days, against her will. Behind me is the structure where the pastor and his wife lived. Next to the structure is the church where they congregated. Behind these two structures stands a home where the woman and the pastor’s son reportedly lived.”
Behind these closed doors are pews and an altar fit for a pastor and a congregation. But according to neighbours, people outside the pastor’s immediate family rarely ever attended the church.
Voice of: Neighbor #1
Voice of: Neighbor #1
“He is not a pastor. It could show in his face he is not a pastor. He is a bad neighbor, he is a bad, bad neighbor.”
Paul Lopez
“Tell me what makes you say he is a bad neighbor.”
Voice of: Neighbor #1
“When we have animals you use to like kill the animals. He mih bad with the animals. Poor little animals.”
Paul Lopez
“There is a church over there, have you ever attended the church?”
Neighbor #2
“No, the last time I visit them was like a year ago. But I don’t visit them because like I say, they don’t push themselves with neighbors. They only separate.”
Paul Lopez
“Do you see anybody attend this church?”
Voice of: Neighbor #2
Voice of: Neighbor #2
“Sometimes I see the got visitors but all the time, only them.”
By all accounts, the pastor, his wife, and their sons were the only true members of this church. There isn’t a sign to indicate a name or a denomination. But inside the pastor’s home, next door from the church he was hiding a secret. Investigators say he was holding his son’s partner captive. A twenty-three-year-old woman tied to a step inside the house for eight days. And this woman was no stranger. She was his daughter-in-law.
Paul Lopez
“The young lady, did you see her around anytime?
Voice of: Neighbor #2
“No, long time I nuh see that young lady. I mih think they gawn or separate. I don’t know. Long time I nuh see ah.”
Paul Lopez
“Did you ever hear anything suspicious in your neighbor’s property?”
Voice of: Neighbor #1
“No sir.”
Paul Lopez
“Was it surprising to you?”
Voice of: Neighbor #1
“Yes, everybody was surprised, my grandpa, my ma, they surprised. How could they do that to a poor lee gial and she mih pregnant.”
When police discovered her inside the pastor’s home, injuries were found on her hands and feet. She reported to the police that she was physically and sexually abused while tied up and held against her will. Reports are that she was left to lie in her faeces without being properly fed. The woman’s ordeal began on October fifteenth when she attempted to leave her partner. However, she had to return to the property because her parents were not home when she went there to seek refuge.
Voice of: Neighbor #1
“I nuh hear nothing because they use to like do big noise. I don’t know but they use to like play a lot of music.”
Voice of: Neighbor #2
“I just hear because they have big band and they put the band and we hear the music way yah. They play music every time but I don’t know what is happening there. But like how you see the house lock up right there it use to lock up all the time. You could only see they are at home because of the vehicle outside. They don’t open the doors for nothing. Like how you see it is right now, all the time it is like that.”
Police have detained the pastor, his wife, and their son. Authorities are yet to release their identities. Reporting for News 5, I am Paul Lopez.
This afternoon, reporters caught up with the Commissioner of Police, Chester Willaims, in Belize City. He clarified that the police became aware of the kidnapping incident in Belmopan after the victim escaped the pastor’s home. According to ComPol Williams, the pastor, his wife, and their son are all accused of physically assaulting the victim. Here is what he told us.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Police received the information that the young lady on the sixteenth of this month visited her family but when she got there she could not find her family. Upon returning home where her husband lives she was tied up and kept captive under an inside stairs and she was tied up. She managed to escape from them last night and the police encountered her. She has since made a report and the persons are in police custody at the time.”
Mation Ali
“What charges are they facing at the time and was she pregnant?”
Chester Williams
“I am not sure if she was pregnant, but the police are looking at the entire case and hopefully by the end of the day today we will be able to levy those charges.”
Reporter
“Was she assaulted by her father-in-law, mother-in-law and their husband?”
Chester Willams
“Yes, all of them yes.”
Marion Ali
“Has she needed additional help, therapy, medical help?”
Chester Willams
“Certainly, we are looking at that and whatever help she may need then we will seek from other agencies, maybe even getting her a safe house if her familywould not be able to keep her safe. We can see if we can speak to Haven House or some other institution until she can get herself back together.”
