Back in February 2011, Bert Vasquez, a.k.a. Bert Haylock, 27, a businessman of North Front Street, was arraigned on charges of unlawful imprisonment, aggravated assault with a weapon, and aggravated assault of an indecent nature.
Those charges were brought against him in connection to an incident on January 25, 2011, where allegedly he held a 20-year-old woman at knife-point and tried to rape her.
It has been several months now, and the prosecution has decided to bring charges of abduction and attempted rape in relation to that same incident.
Vasquez/Haylock appeared in Magistrate’s court today to be arraigned on those additional charges. Because of the nature of the charges, he was not eligible for bail. His next adjourned date for this trial is September 12, 2011.
The incident which landed him in front of the courts is in relation to a victim who is an accountant clerk of Ladyville. The victim told police that at about 6 p.m. January 25, she was heading home. She said that while walking on Freetown Road she met a man who she knows as Bert Vasquez, who offered a ride.
She said that she accepted the ride and he drove to Belama under the pretence of having to pick up a relative; he then drove to Belama Phase 4. He reportedly then told her that he liked her and that he wanted her. He told her that she had two choices; either she cooperated, or he will take “it” by force.
Thereafter, he held a pocket knife to the side of her head and took off her jacket, blouse and bra; he then began to caress her. He attempted to remove her pants and that’s when she tried to escape. Vehicles started to drive into the area, and Vasquez drove off up the Northern Highway to Mile 12.
He insisted that he would have her and stopped by a house where someone started flashing a light, and her mother was calling her on her cell phone. That’s when he decided to take her home.
Vasquez/Haylock also faces charges in a separate case relating to a 16-year-old minor dating back to May of this year. On May 13, 2011, around 8:05 p.m., the minor was in the vicinity of the Pound Yard Bridge at the bus stop used by buses leaving for Ladyville when Vasquez arrived in a four-door vehicle with tinted windows. He exited the vehicle carrying what the minor suspected was a .38 caliber firearm, which he put to her side, demanding that she get in.
She complied in fear of her life and reported to police that she was driven to an area in Vista del Mar, just outside Ladyville, where she was beaten in the face with the firearm, causing a broken nose and facial injuries. She also alleged that Vasquez put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger, but it “snapped”, or misfired, and she was eventually able to escape and call for help.
His charges in that case, all indictable, are aggravated assault, abduction and harm. That case is still pending.