Fifty-four-year-old Mark Francisco was shot and killed on Monday morning in Belize City. It was a crime that left his family asking questions and the police looking for answers. Francisco was shot and killed as he was getting ready for a fishing trip that morning. In the wake of the tragic incident, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams told reporters that the fisherman was not known to have any kind of gang affiliation, and that investigators have arrested two persons.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The same team that I had put together following the S.O.E. under the command of Mr. Dawson, they have been extremely busy, not just at the Francisco case, but many of them murder cases, and I am pleased to say that they have made significant progress in the Mark Francisco murder. The two suspects are now in custody. The vehicle used in that murder is also in the custody of the police and I expect that charges will be filed against those two individuals by tomorrow. We don’t believe that he was the intended target. We somewhat believe that those individuals were just lurking in that area for anybody who they believe may have some ties to S.S.G. But, again, I reemphasize the point that Mr. Francisco is not known to be involved in any gang activity.”
On Tuesday, just as employees prepared to leave work for lunch, a man was shot and killed near Cinderella Plaza. The deceased, Leroy Smith, was shot by the same gun he used to hold up a businessman whom he pushed inside the Casa Churro Bakery. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told reporters that Smith, who was from the Taylor’s Alley area, was also a person of interest in the murder of Gerald Tillett. The Commissioner also went on to speak of the incident on Tuesday that claimed Smith’s life.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Yes, he was a person of interest. Yes.”
Reporter
“Do we know if the business establishment was under surveillance by these individuals?”
Chester Williams
“We cannot say, no. They can’t blame the businessman for protecting himself and his family. He has a right to do so. As much as the media and sometimes society tends to blame the police for crime, we are not the ones to be blamed. At the end of the day, we are at the end of the funnel in terms of when all odds fail and then the person ends up offending, it’s then the duty of the police to do what needs to be done from a legal standpoint.”
Thirty-six-year-old Mark Stevens, accused of the attempted murder of Juan Carlos Rios Pineda on June eighth, appeared in court today when he was escorted from the Belize Central Prison. His appearance this morning, before a magistrate, took an interesting turn when Stevens refused to have his fingerprint lifted by police experts. While the court granted permission for his fingerprint to be taken, after partial prints were lifted from a knife allegedly used in the Pineda’s stabbing, Stevens put up a fight, refusing to comply with the orders of the magistrate. On Saturday, June eighth, police visited the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where they observed Pineda suffering from multiple stab wounds. Initial investigation revealed that he was walking his dog in the Lord’s Ridge Cemetery when he was approached by an individual he knows as Mark Stevens. Pineda said he made several attempts to evade Stevens by running home, but Stevens ran towards him and stabbed him multiple times with a kitchen knife. Pineda’s landlord attempted to stop Stevens from inflicting the injuries, but he was unsuccessful in doing so. While Stevens refused to cooperate with the taking of his fingerprint earlier today, another attempt will be made to do so at the Belize Central Prison where he remains on remand.
The lifeless body of fifty-eighty-year-old Cecil Lewis was recovered at sea by a team of coast guard officers earlier today. Lewis was on a barge heading to Caye Chapel on Sunday when he went overboard. It wasn’t until other crew members arrived at their destination that they realized Lewis was missing. Despite a search effort, Lewis’ body was not found until this morning. Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, of the Belize Coast Guard, spoke with News Five by phone this afternoon.
On the phone: Rear Admiral Elton Bennett
On the phone: Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
“This morning, our search team located the body of Mr. Lewis just a few miles northwest of… his body was trapped around the mangroves in that area, the exact area that we calculated as the search area, the most likely location where it would be. So we were searching over the past few days and this morning and we were able to locate his body. We called in the forensics team who went out there to process the scene. Then, they will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.”
Paul Lopez
“Was there a particular piece of information that led you all to that specific area or to the discovery this morning since you have been searching for some time?”
Elton Bennett
“Yes, it is search planning. When a person falls from out of a vessel and he’s in the water, there is a calculation to determine where drift would take the body, hence the reason why we were in that specific area. If he would have drowned, indeed, then he would have been subsurface for the past two days and his body would have come up sometime today. So that was the area that we were focusing on, based on search planning.”
On Tuesday, a fifteen-year-old girl who was diving with her family, lost a leg after sharks attacked her. The teen, Annabelle Carlson, had reportedly completed a dive with the Belize Dive Pro company between Hot Caye and Halfmoon Caye around eleven-thirty on Tuesday. The girl reportedly jumped back into the water and that was when a shark bit her leg. It’s the first time, at least in recent memory, that an attack of this nature has occurred in Belize. It is one that the Minister of Blue Economy, Andre Perez said should not label coastal Belize as unsafe since this was a very rare incident.
Andre Perez
Andre Perez, Minister of Blue Economy
“One of the most important things I want to share right now is that we are being informed that the victim is okay, is alive, made it. What is the magnitude of the damage, we don’t know as yet, but it’s certainly an unfortunate situation. We’re very saddened about it, but I want to highlight that this is something that is very rare and I don’t think this is a time to say, well, you know, we don’t want to go swimming again or something. There must be some other reason why that happened, but it’s too early to say right now.”
Reporter
“For tourists who may be wondering if it’s safe to swim in our waters, what do you have to say to them?”
Andre Perez
“Listen, this is a very rare case. While we are saddened about it, we look at the facts. For the past thirty years as such, we have never had any kind – this type of accident as such. There’s nothing, I believe there’s, nothing to be worried about, that we’re scared or something, whatever. We’re safe.”
Forty-six-year-old Harish Kishanchand, a businessman of a Church Street address, appeared before the lower court today where he was arraigned on a single charge of trafficking in persons. It is alleged that sometime between January twenty-first and November thirteenth, 2022, Kishanchand took advantage of a twenty-one-year-old man by abusing his position of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation. The man was compelled to work for Kishanchand under difficult conditions. He eventually ran away and subsequently reported the matter to the police. Kishanchand was represented in court by attorney Jacqueline Willoughby, while the matter is being prosecuted by D.P.P. Cheryl-Lyn Vidal. He was offered bail in the sum of six thousand dollars, plus one surety of the same amount. Kishanchand’s next court date is set for September thirtieth.
Police are investigating the theft of a safe from the Treasury building in Dangriga. The safe was discovered stolen on Tuesday, making this the second such theft at that office in five months. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told reporters that the thieves had to have familiarity with the interior of the building to have known the steps they took, including turning off the power supply that controlled the surveillance cameras. Williams said that the investigating is looking at employees of the Treasury Office as well.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The safe was stolen. I’m not too sure of the contents in terms of the quantum of money that was in that safe. But again, it clearly shows that this burglary was committed by people who know exactly how the treasury operates and, as a matter of fact, they even went to the extent of turning off the power to the building to disable the camera system from recording before entering the building. So that could only be done by people who understand how inside the treasury building is located and the situation of the cameras on that particular building. So it’s something that the police are looking at. We have to interview people who work there as well to see what they know. At the end of the day, we cannot leave anything out. This is the second or the third time there has been a burglary at that treasury in Dangriga and I think that it is too much. So the police will be probing deep to see if we can identify those persons who are responsible.”
“The time to end child marriage in Belize is now.” That is one of the mottos of the End Child Marriage in Belize Campaign that was launched by the Ministry of Human Development and its partners. The campaign seeks to increase the age of marital eligibility from sixteen years to eighteen. Today, the key stakeholders of the campaign gathered to discuss the proposed changes to the legislation that permits children to marry and the importance of acting on the matter. News Five’s Britney Gordon was there to learn more about this issue in Belize. Here’s that story.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
If you are asked whether you know any minors currently married to or in a union with an adult, would the answer be, yes? Chances are it is, because one out of every five girls aged fifteen to nineteen in Belize is in the very situation. As of sixteen years old, teenagers are legally allowed to get married with parental consent. That is the law the Ministry of Human development and its partners are seeking to change by raising the legal age to at least eighteen. Shakira Sutherland, Executive Director of the National Children and Families Commission, explained that this campaign was born from a call to action from participants of the National Children’s Parliament last year.
Shakira Sutherland
Shakira Sutherland, Executive Director, N.C.F.C.
“So the campaign is to showcase the information that we have in regards to the legal aspect of it. So what we’re trying to do is that we’re trying to increase the age of marriage, the legal age, from sixteen to eighteen. And this stemmed from the National Children’s Parliament last year. So the bill from the children was that they wanted to end child marriage and the objective was to increase the age. Not only last year’s parliament, but the year before. Talks about vocational studies and then the previous year about child justice and so it is just a showcase that we at N.C.F.C. are working diligently to allow the children’s voices to be heard working with other stakeholders.”
The campaign is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Human Development and is supported by partners such as the National Women’s Commission. Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos-Garcia says that she is also grateful for the support of the church.
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Human Development
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia
“As I mentioned today, we are very happy that many of the church leaders have joined us this morning. I mentioned that no disrespect at all to the sanctity of marriage from the religious perspective, but that you are married not because you might go into a church, but you’re married because you sign a contract. Signing a contract is when you’re married because you go to church, but it is the signing and the sending of that marriage signature to the vital statistics unit, and it is recorded. That is when you’re married and I don’t believe that anyone under the age of eighteen should be allowed to sign a contract.”
The campaign emphasizes the belief that child marriage is a human rights violation and a form of gender-based violence. Beverly Lemoine Castillo is a survivor of several forms of violence, including child abuse and rape. She uses her story of overcoming such trials to empower children and adults. Castillo shares her observations from working with children in similar situations.
Beverly Lemoine Castillo
Beverly Lemoine Castillo, Child Abuse Survivor
“Most children just keep it in, and then they go out there in the streets and do just things that is not appropriate. Or things that, I wouldn’t say they’re doing, It is bad, but it is things that they’re doing that they’re not aware of, because that’s normal for them. A lot of children do what is normal for them, and I talk about rehabilitation and habilitation. Rehabilitation is return to your normal state of being. Habilitation is to use give the tools necessary to function in everyday life. See, I can’t be rehabilitated because rehabilitation, I can’t, I don’t want to go back to my normal state of being. My normal state of being, like I said, is drugs, alcohol, but you can habilitate me. You can give me the tools necessary to go forward in life.”
The campaign is sending a message that the protection of young people is a priority for Belize and that the time to address these issues is now.
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia
“In other words, the younger you marry, the more likely you are to maybe have a bad pregnancy, the more likely you are to maybe stay out of school, stay out of a job because the earlier you marry, especially it affects young girls, the earlier you marry. You’re taking away your chances of being in school and graduating and having a good career, having a good background, and then having a good career.”
A million dollars have reportedly gone missing from the Belize Solid Waste Management Authority and the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Climate Change is investigating an allegation of wrongdoing at B-SWAMA. On Tuesday, Minister of Sustainable Development Orlando Habet informed Cabinet of what took place and information will be passed on to the Ministry of Public Service, as well as the Belize Police Department. A release issued by the ministry states, quote, due to the ongoing investigation, the ministry sees it best not to provide details that may negatively impact the investigation. We assure the public that necessary actions will be taken to address the matter accordingly, end quote.
Minister of Disaster Risk Management, Andre Perez emphasizes the importance of the National Meteorological Service which provides essential information to the public throughout the course of the day. Meteorologists are tasked with managing multiple stations, working odd hours and even holidays. This raises the question of whether the MET Service is adequately staffed to manage the duties or not. Here’s Perez’s response.
Andre Perez
Andre Perez, Minister of Disaster Risk Management
“We have done a lot of changes right now. Since the service came on disasters management has passed with us. We have already increased the staff more needs to be done. Of course, we need, we understand that we have meetings with our C.E.O. and with the chief met and of course creating a department where they are the financial officer, the accounting officer, which they did not have. It was only one ministry at the time. So eventually this is becoming more efficient. And what the chief mentioned about increase of staff, certainly we’re looking at that as well, no? But of course, we always have to watch our budget as well. But I think right now what we’re doing is sensitizing and showing to the public the importance of the MET service, the valuable information is being shared. That is very critical. And I want to recognize that the staff here, that they do the work. It’s as the chief mentioned, even on Christmas Day, they’re working as well. You have a lot of different people, doctors and so working. The MET service also is at work, even during the holidays.”
