On Friday, we reported that Harry Sutherland, also known as Doctor Sutherland, was charged by police for riding his bicycle with a five-gallon bottle of water on the handle. At the time, Sutherland was carrying the water for an elderly woman in the area. The charge alleged that he was unable to fully control his bike due to the way he carried the bottle. This sparked public outrage, with many people finding the charge unreasonable. Shortly after the story broke, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams took to Facebook to call the charge unusual and announced that he had ordered it to be withdrawn. Today, we heard from both ComPol Williams and Sutherland.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The issue with Harrison Sutherland is one that outrages the public. While I can say categorically that I do not act on public outrage, but I act on what is reasonable and just. While there is a law that says you are not supposed to carry load on a bicycle that disallows you from properly maneuvering the bicycle, that law does not contemplate a five-gallon bottle of water, or grocery bags you go to the grocery store and buy and have to come riding on your bicycle with those items on your bike. Even in the absence of the good gesture that Mr. Sutherland was performing, to arrest a person for carrying a five gallon on a bicycle is not reasonable. The law itself, as I said to my commanders this morning, would deal with those persons you see carry a fridge, a chest of draw, maybe lumbers, large piece of lumbers extending out and impeding traffic.”
Harry Sutherland
Harry Sutherland, Belize City Resident
“I will shake my hand and scratch it for Mr. Chester, using his discretion against that officer that held that charge against me. That is why Mr. Chester I love you and respect you for what you did and said about me. I could understand if I was doing something wrong or whatever. I would accept all my charges against me. But to assist with something, come on Mr. Chester. That is why I love how you use your discretion against that officer towards me.”
Paul Lopez
“So you were detained, place behind a cell, dragged before a magistrate, do you feel like you deserve more than just an apology and the charge dropped?”
Harry Sutherland
“Further discretion, I will leave that to Mr. Chester conversation, let Mr. Chester think bout that.”
Over the weekend in Punta Gorda, a wild bar fight broke out involving several patrons, prompting the Commissioner of Police to seek the suspension of the bar’s liquor license. The cause of the chaos inside the bar remains unclear, but surveillance footage shows furious customers hurling bottle after bottle at the bar, leaving a trail of destruction. ComPol Williams briefly addressed the incident.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“I just told the legal officer this morning, in conference, to write the Toledo Liquor Licensing Board and seek to have the license suspended.”
A police officer from Mahogany Heights is out on bail after being charged with theft, caught on camera stealing from a Chinese businesswoman he was supposed to be protecting. The officer, fifty-two-year-old Peter Graham, was brought to court this morning. Wearing a shirt that read ‘Dear Santa, define good,’ Graham appeared before Chief Magistrate Jayani Wegodapola around noon, accompanied by his attorney, Norman Rodriguez. He was charged with stealing five hundred and fifty dollars from Jiabi Wang, the proprietor of a shop on Mahogany Street, Belize City, on January sixth, 2025. Graham pleaded not guilty. The prosecutor requested bail with conditions, including that Graham sign in at a police station weekly since he is now on interdiction. Chief Magistrate Wegodapola granted bail at one thousand, five hundred dollars with conditions: Graham must sign in every Monday at the Mahogany Heights Police Station, avoid contact with the complainant and witnesses, attend all court dates, and not get arrested for any other offenses while on bail. Graham posted bail and is due back in court on March thirteenth, 2025. Here’s Commissioner of Police Chester Williams’ reaction to the incident.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Sometimes I really and truly wonder what goes through the minds of some police, honestly. His action, or conduct, is disgusting. I won’t say much because I have already directed that that matter be dealt with. I know we have received a report from the proprietor of the establishment, and I had given instructions over the weekend for him to be arrested and charged and I was told that he eventually took back the money, with the hope that the matter would not be pursued. But believe you me, what I saw on that video footage is certainly something that is unforgiveable. We are police officers; we are charged with the trust and confidence of the people. His conduct in that video goes against the grain of what being a police officer is, and so, he was suspended immediately, and I have already directed the legal office to write him because, again, as much as the public might be outraged and I agree with them that we all should be outraged, the law requires that we must follow a process.”
Forty-year-old Tyron Lee Humes is now behind bars at the Belize Central Prison, facing charges of aggravated assault with a licensed firearm. The incident allegedly took place just after midnight on Sunday at the Princess Hotel & Casino. According to initial investigations, fifty-seven-year-old Edwin Bowen and his girlfriend, thirty-five-year-old Rachel Wallace, were leaving the casino and heading to Bowen’s vehicle when they spotted two men rummaging through it. When Bowen and Wallace approached, one of the men reportedly pulled out a firearm and pointed it at them. Bowen, fearing for his life, backed off and called the police. That’s when Humes allegedly advanced towards Bowen, punched him in the forehead, and caused his Motorola cell phone to fall and break. In court, Humes pleaded not guilty. Due to the serious nature of the charges, he was denied bail and remanded to the Belize Central Prison until February twenty-eighth. Today, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams was asked if there would be recommendations to revoke Humes’ gun license.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Certainly we are going to make recommendations to the board like we have done in many cases where persons with licenses misuse their firearm, to have the person’s license revoked.”
Giovanni Ramirez, the whistleblower in the case that sent attorney Oscar Selgado to prison for ten years, was tragically gunned down on Thursday afternoon in Belize City. It’s still unclear if Ramirez’s murder is linked to Selgado’s conviction and lengthy sentence. Ramirez, who had his own run-ins with the law, had appeared in court for various criminal offenses. As the investigation into this high-profile killing continues, police have yet to make an arrest.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“At this time there is no update. We have a few people that we are looking forbut we have not been able to locate them. I’m hoping that the police would be able to get them in due course.”
Police are waiting for Corozal resident Moises Verde to recover so they can charge him with aggravated assault. Verde is currently healing from a gunshot wound he got during a shootout with Sarteneja police last Thursday. Reports say officers were chasing Verde for an aggravated assault charge when he pulled out a point thirty-eight pistol and fired several shots at them. The police fired back, hitting him in the leg, and he was taken to the Northern Regional Hospital for treatment. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams provided an update on the incident.
Britney Gordon
“Update on Moises Verde, the man that was accused of shooting the police officer and he got allegedly shot back by a police officer?”
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“At this time, that’s a matter in Sarteneja. I don’t have any further details. I know that the man Verde, I think he has been released or is still in the hospital. But as soon as he is able to be arraigned, he will be charged by the police for aggravated assault.”
Repairs have started on the dirt roads in northern Belize that lead to the cane fields. Last week, the Corozal Sugarcane Producers Association raised concerns about the deteriorating roads, which have been made worse by constant rain, making it difficult for farmers to access their fields. This has led to a significant drop in the amount of sugarcane delivered to Tower Hill. To make matters worse, the poor quality of the harvested cane is producing less sugar, causing the mill to halt operations at times. This is problematic because the mill isn’t designed to stop during the cane season, and doing so can cause damage. News Five’s Marion Ali has more on this story.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Since last week, crews from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing have been hard at work fixing the badly damaged dirt roads in the Corozal and Orange Walk Districts that lead to the cane fields. The relentless rains over the past few weeks have made it tough for farmers to harvest their mature cane, and their heavy-duty equipment has only worsened the road conditions. Jose Majil, the chairman of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association’s Corozal Branch, has been closely monitoring the situation.
Jose Majil
Jose Majil, Chairman, B.S.C.F.A, Corozal Branch
“Some farmers have big machinery, so they try to take out the product, but they are at the time, they’re hurting the roads too and the farmers that have small trucks, well they cannot pass.”
The farmers were forced to harvest the cane they can reach, but the crop is immature and that has also added to the problem, according to BSI’s General Manager, Mac McLoughlin.
Mac McLoughlin
Mac McLoughlin, General Manager, A.S.R./B.S.I
“We’re milling very, very poor-quality cane. So obviously that’s having an impact, and it will have an impact on the whole industry, because farmers are paid on the sugar that’s produced and for the mill. At this point, we’ve milled over seventy thousand tons of sugar cane. At this point last year, we’d only milled fifty-seven thousand tons because of the delays to the crop, because of one association, but this year, we’ve made three thousand three hundred tons of sugar. Last year, we made three thousand seven hundred tons, so we made more sugar with thirteen thousand tons less cane last year.”
With the rain finally letting up, crews from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing have been busy restoring the sugar roads in the north. Chief Engineer Evondale Moody reports that most of the work is now complete.
Evondale Moody
Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, M.I.D.H
“In the Corozal District we have over two hundred and seventy miles of road and in the Orange Walk District we have about three hundred and fifteen miles of sugar roads. With the budget that we receive annually there’s no way that we could maintain all these roads continuously, especially when we have significant rainfall as what we’ve been having in this past year, 2024. However, we try our best to initiate the upgrading of these sugar roads, especially the main ones prior to the sugar cane season. So we started these roads in late November, early December once we had the funds available to commence these works.”
But the rain started again and interrupted the road works, until last week. Moody mentioned that during this period, the farmers’ heavy equipment further damaged the roadworks, making the situation even worse.
Evondale Moody
“Some of the cane fields are wet but you still have those trucks going into the cane fields and bringing out that contaminated material onto the road. Please bear in mind that these roads are not paved roads, they’re gravel roads and once that gravel gets contaminated it creates another problem for us because we still need to go back and do the same thing again to address that.”
The cane fields in the north are mostly lowlands, about eighty percent, with only twenty percent being highlands. Alfredo Ortega, Chairman of the Committee of Management for the B.S.C.F.A Orange Walk Branch, suggests that the mill should consider shortening the harvest period to avoid the rainy season.
Alfredo Ortega
Alfredo Ortega, Chairman, Committee of Management, B.S.C.F.A, Orange Walk Branch
“We have been trying to do what we can, but nevertheless, climate change is one of the issues that is affecting us now, left, right and center because the amount of rain that we are getting now is much more than any other given year. Starting one day, two days after Christmas, many of the cutters – because we rely on the manpower – many of them are still in the party mood and that is why we’re telling them that they delay so that whenever we start in January, then we have a better flow of cane being delivered to the mill.”
However, McCloughlin argues that climate change has blurred the lines between rainy and dry seasons. He emphasizes that making better investments is crucial for successful crops, just like in other sugar-producing countries.
Mac McLoughlin
“All four cane farmer associations and the mill agreed to start when we started, as that if we start earlier, albeit a little bit wet sometimes, it’s better than ending in the rain. You have upland fields, you have lower land fields, there needs to be effective drainage in fields. You know, you need to have better water management, you need to have investment, you’ve got to have investment in the cane farm. Really, we have to change the whole structure, I think, of the way the cane industry works here because we’re seeing, year by year, more of a deterioration in the cane crop, both the yields and the quality.”
There’s no estimate yet on the losses for this sugar crop due to the delays, but cane farmers are hopeful that they can make up for lost time if the weather stays dry. Marion Ali for News Five.
The Commission of Inquiry’s report on Belize’s sugar industry, completed at the end of November 2024, is still under wraps. The commission handed the report to the prime minister, who will decide when to share it with the public. Mac McLoughlin, General Manager of A.S.R/B.S.I, hinted that a sneak peek at the documents shows many of the sugar factory’s recommendations were included. Meanwhile, Alfredo Ortega from the B.S.C.F.A. mentioned that they are eagerly waiting to see what the report contains.
Mac McLoughlin
Mac McLoughlin, General Manager, A.S.R/B.S.I
“What we’ve seen so far, I mean, it really just tells us what we were expecting, which is that we really need to concentrate on modernizing and improving the productivity and quality in the cane farm, you know. I think the commission will be recommending a number of things, including quality testing and improved quality testing of cane in the future. Increasing, amounts of replanting of cane because these things are not rocket science. This is what any modern industry has to do, and I assume it will be talking about finding funding for, for farmers to be able to achieve that because that’s what’s required, that we need investment in the cane farm. The factory has had a lot of investment in it and I think if we can get to the right quality levels, we can prove what our industry here can achieve.”
Alfredo Ortega
Alfredo Ortega, Chairman, Committee of Management, B.S.C.F.A, Orange Walk Branch
“The Prime Minister said that report will give an opportunity to better off the Sugar Industry Act. So we are waiting on that so that we can also have our start the negotiation with BSI in regards to our agreement based on what the Commission brings out.”
Meanwhile, the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association is turning to the courts over the issue of Fairtrade premiums, aiming to reclaim what they believe is rightfully theirs. The association claims they haven’t received the appropriate Fairtrade payments for several years and is seeking a resolution to the dispute with the involved sugar companies, ASR/BSI and Tate and Lyle. Alfredo Ortega shared how much they’re looking forward to collecting, while Mac McLoughlin pointed out that the association’s issue is actually with their parent company, Tate and Lyle.
Alfredo Ortega
Alfredo Ortega, Chairman, Committee of Management, B.S.C.F.A, Orange Walk Branch
“For the past two years now, we can see three years we have not. The B-S-C-F-E has not been getting any premium in regards to our can being delivered to the mill. And we, in regards to the regulations, we comply with the regulation. We have our certification. We are not suspended. We passed the audit that has been done to us and nevertheless, we have not been getting our premium from since 2021. So, we are awaiting that, um, we were trying to negotiate that with BSIT and like, but it came out futile. We didn’t went through to nothing. So that is why we have it in court now. We are expecting that, um, something positive come out of that.”
Marion Ali
“How much are you expecting out of this premium?”
Alfredo Ortega
“Well, every year it’s in the vicinity of three million, three point five million, depending on the amount of sugar being sold on the Fairtrade certification. So, it’s two years that we have and plus this past crop that we have not got nothing. So, if we include all three.”
Mac McLoughlin
Mac McLoughlin, General Manager, A.S.R/B.S.I
“Fair trade is between, you know, the associations and Tate and Lyle Sugars, which is the body that sells the fair-trade sugar and pays the farmers for it. So it’s really nothing to do with BSI.”
Marion Ali
“The farmers tend to disagree with you on that.”
Mac McLoughlin
“Well, it’s the truth. I mean, we don’t sell fairtrade. Well, we sell sugar that’s Fairtrade eligible, but we don’t actually market the sugar as Fairtrade. And, back to when Fairtrade started, it was long before ASR arrived in Belize. I think it was 2008. It’s always been Tate and Lyle paying the farmers the premiums.”
The road from Bullet Tree Village to the Spanish Lookout Community is a lifeline for Belize’s agricultural sector, with farmers transporting livestock and grains along this route every day. Now, this crucial stretch is getting a much-needed upgrade. On Friday, a groundbreaking ceremony in Santa Familia Village marked the start of paving the nine and a half miles. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the details.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
On Friday, the Government of Belize kicked off an exciting project to pave nine and a half miles of road from the Spanish Lookout Community to Bullet Tree Village. Orlando Habet, the Area Representative for Cayo Northeast, highlighted the road’s significance, noting that over fifty percent of Belize’s cattle exports to Guatemala travel this route. This upgrade is set to boost the nation’s economic growth by improving this vital thoroughfare.
Orlando Habet
Orlando Habet, Area Rep., Cayo Northeast
“For many years we have been looking through various administrations to get this road paved, because it is heavily trafficked. We have hundreds of workers that come this side and work In Spanish Lookout. We have farmers who have access to their farms through this road and as I mentioned, very important, because sixty to seventy percent of all the cattle that goes to Guatemala passes through this road. All the corn and all the beans exported pass through this road. When we have flooding events it is important, because apart from those commodities, we have chicken, egg, beef, milk, ice cream, you name it, all the food items that has to pass through here when the lower lying bridges are closed. So, it is important.”
Habet also pointed out that this project will boost property values along the road and open up new opportunities for tourism in the area. The initiative is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and the Spanish Lookout Community. According to Julius Espat, the Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing, the community is even pitching in to help finance part of the work.
Julius Espat
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
“This project is a special project, because it is a public, private venture. It is the Spanish Lookout community coming together with government and financing the project to make it work. It was one of the ways we found to fast track the bureaucratic way of doing road construction. So I would like to sincerely thank the Credit Union of Spanish Lookout who I know are the people with the cheese, so thank you very much and the leadership of Mr. Reimer of Spanish Lookout.”
Cayo North Area Representative Michel Chebat was also present at the groundbreaking ceremony in Santa Familia Village. He says this is phase one of Plan Belize. The work is expected to be completed in eighteen months.
Michel Chebat
Michel Chebat, Area Rep., Cayo North
“It is important because it will enhance the lives of all our citizens in the area. It will make commerce better. It will make access to education, agriculture, all the lands around here, the value of these lands will appreciate. So it is a win-win situation. It represents a commitment and a belief by government in the residents and the people of Belize. This government believes in our people, and we are working to make the lives of our people better. This is just another example of that commitment to making people’s lives better under Plan Belize. This is Plan Belize phase one, because in a few months we are going to have phase two of plan Belize.”
Joyce Tun
Joyce Tun, Chairlady, Santa Familia
“We can attest to the fact that from day one when this government came into power we saw the roads upgraded and keeps being upgraded and maintained. And we can say it is not only talk and talk, but you also walk the talk and this is important to us.”
