Thomas Bardalez Walks Again  

A man facing an attempted murder charge has walked free for the second time. On Monday, twenty-six-year-old Leroy Thomas Bardalez, well-known to the police and courts, was released after the Crown stated there wasn’t enough evidence against him. Bardalez was accused of attempting to murder nineteen-year-old Melroy Pelayo, who was shot and injured on March eighth, 2019, while walking with friends during a power outage on Rio Bravo Crescent off Faber’s Road. Justice Candace Nanton told Bardalez he was free to go as the Crown was dropping the case. Bardalez was initially arraigned at the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on March twelfth, 2019, and remanded on three criminal offenses, including attempted murder. In November 2024, Bardalez also walked free from murder charges. According to police, Pelayo was shot in the leg by one of two youths on bicycles. This led to Bardalez’s arrest and charges of attempted murder, use of deadly means of harm, and wounding. Police believed the shooting stemmed from a dispute in the Faber’s Road area. On November twelfth, 2024, Bardalez was acquitted of the murder of Ricky Nelson Miguel, who was shot and killed on September seventh, 2020, on Faber’s Road. The case fell apart because one of the Crown’s witnesses refused to testify, and the other couldn’t be found.