COROZAL TOWN, Corozal District, Tues. Jan. 9, 2018– Accused murderer and fugitive on the run, George Bull, 29, had his day in court today after handing himself in to police last Thursday. He appeared without representation in the Corozal Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Patricia Arana, to answer to the charges of murder and escape from lawful custody.

No plea was taken, and so Bull was remanded to the Belize Central Prison until February 14, 2018.

On the night of December 15, 2017, Jaime Pelayo, Jr., 35, was socializing with two women in front of a nightclub on the Belize Corozal Road in Orange Walk Town when, police say, Bull, a resident of Carmelita, opened fire at him, killing him on the spot and injuring a woman.

Pelayo’s family had told Amandala that Pelayo was not killed because of his turbulent past, and that the shooting was a random act by a man presumed to have been under the influence of alcohol.  Police corroborated this claim.

One week after the incident, while Bull was being charged in connection with the murder, he escaped.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Joseph Myvett, who heads the National Crimes Investigation Branch, had told the press, “What happened is that the suspect was detained and he was formally charged for two counts of aggravated assault, and in order to complete the murder investigation an ID parade would have had to be conducted … in the process, after the ID parade, whilst being escorted back to the cell block, he made good his escape …”