BELIZE CITY, Wed. July 26, 2017–Two residents of Wagner’s Lane were remanded to the Belize Central Prison this morning after they were arraigned on a charge of attempted burglary.

Shaquille Martinez, 23, a self-employed yard cleaner, and Terel Moreira, 21, a construction worker, appeared before Senior Magistrate Sharon Fraser, who read the charge to them.

Both men pleaded not guilty, but the court prosecutor, Corporal Christopher Smith, objected to the court granting them bail on the ground that the prosecution has a strong case against them.

Smith told the court that police caught the two inside the yard of the First Church of the Nazarene, located on Albert Street.
Since this is a place of worship for the community, Smith submitted, the two should be remanded.

Court documents indicate that police found the men with tools and they were ready to break into the church on Monday, July 24.

After the prosecutor had objected to bail, Magistrate Fraser asked the two, why they should be released on bail.

Moreira said that he has a girlfriend who is pregnant with his child and that they were only going to pass through the church yard on their way to a job.

Martinez said he never entered the church, and was only passing through the church yard with a wheelbarrow because it is not fenced, and he uses it as a shortcut. “Police just came on us and hollered ‘Freeze’,” he said. He told the court that he has two young children to take care of.

Their explanation did not satisfy Magistrate Fraser, and she remanded them to prison until they are due back in court on September 8.