BELMOPAN, Wed. Apr. 6, 2016–Two of four men have been arrested and charged with unlawful sexual intercourse and harm after they engaged a 13-year-old girl in sex.
The two men — a construction worker, 18, of San Martin, Belmopan, and a security guard, 20, also of Belmopan — were taken to the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where they were remanded to the Belize Central Prison until May 30.
Police say that the men took sexual advantage of the girl on separate occasions.
According to police, on Sunday, April 3, a businessman of Belmopan and his daughter, 13, went to the Belmopan Police Station, and the girl told them that between November and December 2015, she had sex on different dates with four different men.
Police took the girl for a medical examination at the Western Regional Hospital, and after the examination, a doctor certified her injuries as “harm.”
Police immediately launched an investigation and found two of the four men. They are looking for the other two.
The two men are now facing the prospect of a minimum jail sentence of 12 years. According to Section 47, Subsection 1 of the Substantive Laws of Belize, revised edition 2000, every person who carnally knows a female child under the age of 14 years, with or without her consent, shall, on conviction on indictment, be imprisoned for a term no less than12 years, but which may be extended to life imprisonment.
Section 79 of the Substantive Laws of Belize also states that every person who intentionally and unlawfully causes harm to a person shall be liable to imprisonment for 1 year.