Photo: (l-r) Sergio Pineda and Piers Castillo
by Charles Gladden
BENQUE VIEJO DEL CARMEN, Cayo District, Thurs. Mar. 30, 2023
Moments before midday today, Thursday, March 30, news broke of two male prisoners who escaped police custody in Benque Viejo Del Carmen, Cayo District. The men were scheduled to make an appearance in court in Benque Viejo Town, and while they were being chained by their waist they made their escape.
According to initial police reports, at around 10:40 a.m., Sergio Pineda, 20, of Belmopan and of Salvadoran descent, and Piers Castillo, 25, a Guatemalan, were being held in a building attached to the courthouse. It is customary for dangerous prisoners who are making a court appearance to be restrained with chains, to restrict their movements. People who saw the two men fleeing say they were not wearing any handcuffs.
One of the escaped prisoners, Piers Castillo, was facing a charge of theft. The other escaped prisoner, Sergio Pineda, made headlines in 2021 in the national media when he was accused of killing retired border manager Gonzalo Rosado, 54, on March 1, and BECOL supervisor Wayne Cadle, 49, on May 28 of that year.
Amandala articles published at the time described both incidents as ambush-style murders. In the first incident, the murder of Rosado, it was reported that when he arrived at his home in San Jose Succotz at around 6:45 p.m., after returning from picking up a young lady from Benque Viejo, he was ambushed in his car by two dark-complexioned males. Three gunshots were fired, and he was killed at the scene.
In the case of Cadle, he was reportedly ambushed by three men around 9:00 p.m. on Riverside Street, Benque Viejo Town, and found dead on the side of the road. Reports at the time suggested that the motive for Cadle’s death stemmed from the men wanting to steal his company’s 2020 Futon pickup truck.
At the time of the initial investigation, two suspects – a female minor and Pineda – who were captured by Guatemalan authorities and handed over to Belizean police, were charged with conspiracy and abetment to commit murder. The minor was granted bail when she was arraigned.
Prior to their transfer to the holding area pending their court appearance and subsequent escape, both Pineda and Castillo had been behind bars at the Belize Central Prison.