According to his family, Dennis Ireland, 24, the former Belize Defense Force corporal who police said was wanted in connection with the forty-two high-powered weapons stolen from the bulk store belonging to the BDF’s Price Barracks compound, is in a coma at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.
Sometime in the early hours of Saturday, November 12, 2011, he was badly beaten by four men in a brawl in the close vicinity of Caesar’s Palace on Princess Margaret Drive.
In late October 2011, Ireland made news headlines because of the police allegations, and on the following day after the story aired in the broadcast media that he was wanted, Ireland handed himself in to police.
Since then, the investigations have progressed, and the BDF are currently putting four of their senior members on administrative leave. Ireland was cleared after he was questioned, but his public image was never restored via the media.
Information from his family today concerning his coma suggests that he was attacked because the men wanted to steal his bicycle.
Police have not issued a formal report, but according to a relative who wished to remain anonymous, Ireland came in from work earlier that Friday evening, and was socializing and having some drinks at home. The relative said that at some point later that Friday night, Ireland left the house and went to play pool at a Belize City bar (she doesn’t know exactly where the bar is).
She said that according to the information she received, a fight broke out and four drunken men tried to take away his bicycle. These men didn’t succeed, but according to her information, the same four men cornered him and beat him badly.
She wasn’t able to describe the injuries, but she did point out that he has been in a coma since he was brought in early Saturday morning.
According to his relative, Ireland is a good man whose reputation was smeared when the police sent out to the media a notice that he was wanted. She said that the worst part is that he wasn’t charged, but his lawyer advised him not to go public and try to clear his name at that time, because it was an ongoing investigation. Up until the unfortunate incident that put him in a coma, Ireland had still not presented his side of the story to the media.
Ireland was only wanted for questioning, and his family believes that investigators should have tracked him down at his house instead of issuing the notice. She said that his close friends and family were upset because of the way the news was presented; the police made it seem as though Ireland was in hiding, which was not true.
On that note, the relative told us that members of the BDF have been very supportive, and they’ve dropped in and checked up on him regularly. According to the relative, they never believed that he had any connection to the weapons heist.