by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Wed. Aug. 10, 2022 Salvadoran national, Bairo Gomez, who in June pleaded guilty to raping a 5-year-old child in October of 2018, was sentenced this week to 15 years in prison.

On June 29 of this year, Gomez pleaded guilty to the crime, which spared the child the trauma of recounting the event at a trial. He had been denied bail after being deemed a possible flight risk due to his nationality and was remanded to the Belize Central Prison.

Gomez begged for leniency from the court and apologized for his actions.

Justice Susan Lamb took into consideration the years Gomez has served while on remand, and thus he will only serve an additional 11 years and 2 months of his 15-year sentence, which is the minimum mandatory sentence that can be handed down by law for the offense of rape of a child.