A jury of 4 men and 8 women deliberated for almost four hours yesterday before returning from the deliberating room shortly before 5:00 p.m. with a not guilty verdict for four men charged for murder, and a not guilty verdict for the charge of manslaughter for two of the accused, who had been on remand at the Hattieville prison since the incident.
It?s three days away from Christmas, and 318 employees of Novelo Bus Line Limited, currently the only national bus line in the country, have had their services indefinitely suspended as a result of an unprecedented shutdown of the 40-year-old company.
On Tuesday evening, December 20, 2005, the company?s receivers, Atlantic Bank and the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), pulled the plug on the operation they claimed had been on life support and needed a prompt rescue operation from the Government.
Kremandala FC sweeper and BDF soldier, Erwin ?The Bird? Flores, is today recovering from a knockout he sustained from a blow to the head after being attacked while in Dangriga over the weekend.
Flores, 30, sustained multiple face injuries, which have his face disfigured, and his nose and lips swollen. He is unable to speak clearly because of his injuries, though he believes his condition is temporary.
Three days before Christmas, a grieving family is preparing to bury three generations of their own - a grandfather, Alfred Price, who used to be a star guitarist in the Vibrations Band in the 1980?s; his daughter, Primrose Logan; and her unborn child. They all lost their lives after being involved in a terrible traffic accident that occurred shortly before 7:00 last night on the Northern Highway.
A jury of nine persons, six females and three males, took 2 hours and 40 minutes late this evening to return a not guilty verdict in the carnal knowledge case of Belize City resident, Dionicio Howard, 30, a body works/mechanic and father of one, charged in August/September of 2003 with having sex with a 14-year-old girl of a Southside Belize City secondary school.
Finding itself in a cash crunch, the Alliance Bank, a Glenn D. Godfrey affiliate, has grabbed for the Social Security Board?s ?booby? again, this time to milk $11 million dollars.
Information to our newspaper is that the Alliance Bank already holds over a third of SSB?s money stashed away in term deposits totaling $27 million. This is, by far, more than the deposits held for Social Security in any other bank.
The House of Representatives is slated to consider a motion tomorrow, Friday, December 16, for a $50 million from the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank, owned by the Government of Taiwan.
The concessionary loan, which was negotiated by former Finance Minister Hon. Ralph Fonseca, will carry an interest rate of 4% and is for a term of 20 years, with a 3-year grace period.
Late this week, the Novelo brothers sat down with our newspaper and gave their side of the story regarding the controversy over the $30 million they got from the Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
In our mid-week edition, dated Wednesday, December 7, we reported that the DFC had filed a claim with the Supreme Court to recover the debt from the brothers, and their father, Hipolito Novelo.
A 14-year-old girl who alleges that she was forced into prostitution at the age of 13 by her mother, 52, has been in the care of the Human Services Department since Monday, December 5.
The girl reported to the Human Services Department that she has been involved in prostitution for about a year, since her birthday in March of last year.
Charleston Castillo, 21, of #55 Lemon Street in Dangriga Town, appeared in the Dangriga Magistrate?s Court yesterday, where he was charged with murder and remanded to Hattieville prison until January 8, 2006.
Castillo is accused of killing Dave Nunez, 25, of #29 Lakeland, in the Wagierale area of Dangriga on Sunday, December 4, sometime before midnight, in a quarrel over a girlfriend.
Today, in Dangriga, about 100 people demonstrated along with 9 drivers and 3 mechanics who were fired from Southern Transport, and 14 drivers from National Transport who have no jobs because their buses were impounded?the last two having been impounded yesterday, Wednesday.
Corozal police have arrested and charged Jose Maria Portillo, 58, of Copper Bank village in the Corozal District, on allegations that he chopped Derrick Miranda, 47, on Sunday, December 4, on his head and right hand.
Portillo appeared in the Corozal Magistrate?s Court yesterday, where he was charged with dangerous harm and remanded to Hattieville Prison until December 29, when he is scheduled to reappear in court.
Since 1986, when the first HIV/AIDS case was detected in Belize, 3,500 Belizeans have tested positive and the most affected age group today are young people, particularly females, ages 15 to 29 and males ages 30 to 49, suggesting a transmission trend from older men to younger women.
Today, Amandala had the chance to listen to and speak with a group of young people from Corozal, Orange Walk, Dangriga and Belize City, who met at the National Development Foundation of Belize.
