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93-year-old man recovers consciousness after being badly beaten in home invasion

Headline93-year-old man recovers consciousness after being badly beaten in home invasion

BELIZE CITY, Tues. Dec. 29, 2015–A Belize City construction worker and resident of Fern Lane was today remanded to prison on charges of burglary and dangerous harm.

Chester Noralez, 35, pleaded not guilty to one count of burglary when Senior Magistrate Sharon Fraser arraigned him on the charge.

Police are alleging that Noralez burglarized the home of Patrick Grant, his 93-year-old neighbor, and savagely beat him sometime between December 26 and 27.

Grant, of Fern Lane, was found at about 5:00 yesterday morning in a plastic chair outside his house after being attacked inside his house by two burglars who entered the home.

Reports to Amandala are that two men gained entry into the house by taking off the door paneling and forcing the door open. They went into the house and attacked Grant, who was in his bed sleeping. They beat him in the head, face and body, causing his head to become swollen.

He was sleeping in his home on Fern Lane when two thieves broke into his house and attacked him

The bandits then ransacked the house, stealing Grant’s television set, his VCR, his DVD player and other items before escaping out of the house.

Grant, severely injured, managed to crawl out of the house and into the yard. He then slumped into his chair and that was when his neighbors saw him, and called his family and police.

Grant was then rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in a critical condition, in a coma. Reports today are, however, that he is responding and may be out of the coma.

Patrick-Grant

Police said thatthey searched the area and found Grant’s television set and VCR at the home of his neighbor, Chester Noralez, who is well-known to them.

Noralez, in court, protested the burglary charge, telling the court that he did not burglarize Grant’s home and neither did he steal the 21-inch Toshiba television that police allegedly found at his house.

Noralez told Magistrate Fraser that he bought the television set from a person who sold it to him late in the night.

“I took the TV to my house. I know I bought something from somebody off the street,” Noralez insisted.

His legal entanglement did not end with the burglary charge, however. Police also charged Noralez with dangerous harm.

Magistrate Fraser explained to him that the dangerous harm charge is an indictable matter that will be heard in the Supreme Court, and therefore, she would not take a plea from him.

“I no guilty a none a dem, mommy,” Noralez told the magistrate.

Noralez added that he would never harm the old man, who is his neighbor, and to whom he claimed he had given cake and soft drinks over the Christmas holiday.

“This da wan big bogus pan me,” Noralez said. “When I see that young boy who sold me the TV, I will apprehend him myself and take him to police.”

He said that he had the TV in his house for less than 24 hours before police went to his house.

Fraser asked the court prosecutor whether he would object to the granting of bail to Noralez. The prosecutor indicated that he was objecting to bail on the ground that the victim, Grant, is still hospitalized in a critical condition.

Fraser explained to Noralez that she has no idea what evidence the police will bring against him, but, she added, “when I am sitting here, I have to weigh everything carefully, so I will deny you bail. If this man dies, you could be back here charged for murder.”

“We will revisit the question of bail when you return to court,” Fraser told Noralez, before she remanded him to prison until February 2, 2016.

Carlos Diaz, former PUP Minister of Government, Grant’s son-in-law, told Amandala that on their arrival at Grant’s home, they saw him in the chair and he was bleeding and unresponsive. The police arrived at the home quickly and the ambulance arrived almost at the same time, he said.

Diaz said that Grant lives by himself, that he trims his yard and does everything for himself. He doesn’t have much to do to occupy himself, but at 93, is strong and healthy, said Diaz.
According to Diaz, the thieves beat Grant’s head with half of a concrete block in an effort to kill him, but Grant has a strong will to survive.

Diaz said that the beating of the senior citizen was senseless, and he wants justice.

Members of the public are alarmed at the home invasion and brutal beating of the 93-year-old man, and many are calling on police to do more to protect senior citizens who live alone, and also, to do frequent patrols and carry out spot-checks on senior citizens at their homes.

Noralez has a long rap sheet. According to police, he has been mentioned in crime reports featured on local news since he was a teenager, and is now about 35 years old. He has been shot during a robbery, and he has been arrested and charged numerous times.

In January 2011, the then 30-year-old man again made headlines after he was charged for robbery. Police say that he beat a man in the head with a bottle and stole $35 from him.

In court, he pleaded not guilty and was offered bail of $5,000, which he was unable to meet, and he was remanded to prison.

Reports to Amandala are that at the time he committed this crime, he had been sent to prison for 5 years for robbery, but had been released on parole.

As a result of this crime, his parole was revoked and he was taken back to jail to serve the remainder of his sentence. He was released from jail this year in time for Christmas. Less than 48 hours after spending his Christmas on the outside, however, he is already back in police custody, charged with a heinous crime against his 93-year-old neighbor.

Police are looking for the second thief.

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