BELIZE CITY, Tues. Mar. 16, 2021– Oliver Sutherland, who was seen torturing a male minor on a livestream video, has been charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, wounding and being a leader of a gang, with other possible gang-related offenses pending. His accomplice, Elvin Smith, was also charged for kidnapping and wounding following the circulation of the deeply disturbing video that had been initially live-streamed on social media.
On March 16, 2021, Sutherland appeared in the Magistrate’s Court before Senior Magistrate Tricia Pitts-Anderson. Elvin Smith later joined Sutherland, and both men were arraigned before Chief Magistrate Sharon Fraser for the charges of kidnapping and wounding. They were both denied bail and remanded to the Belize Central Prison. Axia Sanchez, who was also detained along with Smith and Sutherland, was allowed to leave the courthouse after the police decided not to press charges against her.
According to Sutherland, a minor went to his house with the intention of killing him. Sutherland even claimed that the minor had a gun. Police reports, however, indicate otherwise. In a recent interview, the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, said, “Our investigation so far revealed that… the minor had no gun and the minor did not go to his house to kill him. [Sutherland] had sent out the minor, to go and buy for him some beers. When the minor came back, he was not at home. The minor later returned to the area to give him what he had purchased for him. And that was when the minor was pulled inside and [wounded severely.]”
Further investigation revealed that the child has been living in the area in which Sutherland resides for the past few months and the two were well-acquainted. The Police Department says that the minor has been living in the area for four months, rather than being from Cayo, as Sutherland claimed. Williams added, “It is a very concerning situation. I am sure that had it not been for someone calling for loud music, the police had to respond, which allowed the child to escape — that child would have been killed so far,” said Williams.
Police have also opened investigations into the conduct of police officers when interacting with victims of alleged crimes. Williams said, “It should not be that when a victim comes to the police, that the victim should be treated in such a way that he or she ends up being victimized. And that is exactly what happened to that minor. Having been in the hands of the police.”
Williams continued, “[The minor] was victimized by the police. Police must know how to speak to people. Police must not always paint everybody with the same brush. And particularly so when it comes to a minor who is a victim; you have to ensure that you have the right tone and the right words to speak to that minor so that you do not retraumatize or ‘revictimize’ the minor. And based on that, I was extremely disturbed. And what makes matters worse was that not only did the police method of interviewing the child so utterly wrong, but the video was also leaked on social media, where the whole world again got a chance to see this child going through another stage of torturing.”
The Commissioner of Police has since directed professionals to investigate the police in regard to their handling of the incident and their treatment of the minor.