Photo: Hildebrandt Codd, wanted
by Roy Davis (freelance reporter)
BELIZE CITY, Tues. Dec. 5, 2023
Jesse Mejia, 27, one of two prisoners who escaped this morning from the jury room at High Court #3, has been recaptured.
Mejia was spotted by police while he was walking on Baldwin Drive, located near Fabers Road. He was taken into custody and he was transported to the Queen Street Police Station, where he will be held until he is charged with escape.
The second escapee is Hildebrandt Codd, 36, who, it seems, was the mastermind of the escape. Codd is still at large.
Mejia, Codd and two other prisoners, Darwin Prado and Charles Martinez, were put in the jury room at High Court #3 without any police officer to keep guard. Codd, it is believed, upon seeing an opportunity to flee, lifted one of the windows facing the sea and climbed through it. Mejia then followed.
According to reports, Codd got into a boat that was apparently waiting for him, and he headed out to sea.
Mejia, on the other hand, decided to take his chances by going up Regent Street in the direction of the House of Culture.
Prado and Martinez did not venture to escape.
Mejia and Prado were taken to court to appear before Justice Ricardo Sandcroft for sentencing for a double murder. Mejia was also to be sentenced for dangerous harm and wounding for a separate incident.
The double murder occurred on January 23, 2023, at the junction of Marage Road and Compassion Road in Ladyville. Mejia and Prado ambushed a group of men who were standing at the junction and opened fire on them. Two men, Casey Lozano and Marlon Spain, were fatally injured.
Codd, originally from Gibnut Street in Belize City, was taken to court for Justice Sandcroft to render his verdict in relation to a murder charge against Codd. The charge arose from the disappearance in late November, 2019, of Densmore Bowman, 34, a resident of Belmopan, and the discovery about three weeks later of Bowman’s partially decomposed body in a shallow grave between Miles 24 and 25 on the George Price Highway. He had been hacked to death.
It was information that Codd’s common-law wife provided to Bowman’s sister which resulted in his body being found. She (Codd’s common-law wife) later testified that Codd told her he had killed Bowman and described the location where his body was buried.
When told about the escape, Justice Sandcroft remarked, “The circumstances of housing prisoners are unsuitable”.
Codd’s attorneys, Senior Counsel Ellis Arnold and Bryan Neal, were present to hear the verdict, but because of the escape, Justice Sandcroft adjourned it until December 21.
The sentencing of Mejia and Prado was also adjourned until December 21.
Mejia and Prado were represented by attorney Joanne Zuniga Stuart.