Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.
CabSec ordered to review contracts shown to ministers
Amid the allegations of impropriety being hurled at the Government of Belize regarding the awarding of separate concessions to two local petroleum prospectors, tonight we understand that the government has launched an investigation into the matter. Sources tell News Five that Cabinet Secretary Bobby Leslie has been instructed to review the product sharing agreements presented by Minister of Natural Resources Florencio Marin at the June fifth Cabinet meeting. It is hoped that that examination will reveal whether the documents that were eventually signed were approved in their present form by the executive or altered after the meeting. Former Minister Johnny Briceño is claiming that when he resigned on June fourth the Petroleum Office had suggested a contract significantly different from those offered to local applicants—ZMT International and BCH International. Earlier this week, the opposition United Democratic Party presented those documents to the media, accusing G.O.B. of deliberately agreeing to a deal that was extraordinarily more favourable than those granted to other recent applicants. Principals of the companies are businessmen Zaid Flores, Michael Duncker, and Antonio Zabaneh. Attempts to contact both the Prime Minister and Minister Marin for comment regarding the contracts were unsuccessful today as they were on a tour of the Belize Rural North constituency.
He shot a cop, now he’ll spend a year in jail
Almost two years ago he shot a cop and then turned the gun on himself, but tonight former tourism police officer Charles Grant is behind bars. Today in the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Troadio Gonzalez sentenced the thirty-six year old to a year in jail in connection with a series of incidents that occurred in January 2006. On the night in question, Grant shot Police Corporal Ian Geban, beat up his wife, threatened his brother-in-law, fired at a shot at his step-daughter, and then tried to kill himself. He was eventually arrested and after recovering in the hospital, was charged with Attempted Murder, Damage to Property, Use of Deadly Means of Harm, Aggravated Assault, Grievous Harm and Wounding. But when the case landed in the Supreme Court this month, all charges except that of Wounding were dropped when Grant pleaded guilty to that offence. He was defended by Attorney Dickie Bradley, while the case was prosecuted by Nigel Ebanks.
Third man charged in Felix murder...
In other news from the courts, today a third man was accused of the murder of Kurlin Felix. This afternoon, nineteen year old Wabala Noralez appeared before Magistrate Dorothy Flowers were he was formally charged with Murder and two counts each of Attempted Murder, Use of Deadly Means of Harm, and Grievous Harm. Noralez was additionally charged with the Attempted Murder of another man, Andrew West, which occurred on the fourteenth of August. The defendant has been remanded to Hattieville Prison until the end of the month for the Felix case. The deceased died from multiple gunshots on September twenty-third while on Central American Boulevard. The other two men accused of the crime are Cassian Bennett and Mark Vernon.
...While deceased’s cousin injured in mystery shooting
And while arrests have been made in Kurlin’s murder, tonight Belize City police are no closer to solving an early morning shooting on Thursday that left Felix’s cousin injured. Twenty-two year old Ryan Felix was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital around seven-thirty that morning with a gunshot wound to his left foot. But authorities say that’s just about all the evidence they’ve been able to gather as the victim has not been cooperating with investigators. Felix has only reported that he was riding his bicycle on Rivero Street towards Boots Crescent when he heard a loud bang and felt a burning sensation to his leg. However, the incident is somewhat a mystery as cops say they have been unable to verify that story with anyone in the area.
Escaped prisoner sighted in Stann Creek District
Meanwhile, authorities are advising motorists travelling in the Stann Creek District not to pick up anyone acting suspiciously along the road. That’s because investigators have received reports that escaped prisoner Terry Bainton was spotted in the Hope Creek area earlier today. The convicted burglar was one of four men who escaped from the multi-max section of the Hattieville correctional facility just after midnight on Sunday during a series of blackouts. The other prisoners, Rupert Manzanero, Allan Cal, and Gilbert Requeña are also still on the run.
Rape victim shares story to find attacker
If you’ve ever been the victim of a crime, you’re familiar with the feelings of violation and fear that takes hold. But tonight, a Belize City woman has come forward in the hope that by sharing her story of torture and trauma, her assailants will be brought to justice.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Investigators believe that around midnight last Friday, two armed attackers entered the Belize City home of a single mother and terrorized the family for almost four hours. According to the twenty-eight year old woman, when she and her seven year old son went to bed earlier that night everything was in order.
Voice of Victim “We sleep inna my baby room. After the news we relax and we gone inna di room and we gone sleep; we neva did gone no way. During my sleep, like coming onto morning, I guess them guys mi deh inna di house from long time, they done monitor and everything because when I conscious that di young man deh in yah, I open my eye, but when I open my eye I turn and I bury my head inna my pillow and I scream.”
That scream was the start of a very real nightmare.
Voice of Victim “Then di person hold me by my neck from back on and “click”, to me dah wah gun cause he seh shut di f*** up, he cuss and everything. He seh if I mek any noise he wah kill me. ... During the struggle in deh fi wah while, he hail in the young man, the next one weh he call “Biggs” and tell ah mek he come deal with the baby and he wah deal with me. Den he haul me to the bathroom, by my baby bathroom.”
The victim claims that in the bathroom she was raped and then knocked unconscious. When she woke up, the men were still inside the house and her attacker would tell her he was no stranger.
Voice of Victim “This guy, the one weh hold me, claim that he dah my baby pa cousin. ... He tell me they noh wah hurt di baby cause the baby dah fi he cousin, like they the try put wah set up pan he. But to my belief I noh believe that dah he because if he send anybody yah he have keys to this house. My baby pa have keys to this house. ... But the young man weh hold me from back on with the gun call the next young man, di smalla one weh stay inna di room with the baby, he call ah “Biggs”. That dah the nickname weh he recall. “
Marion Ali
“Do you know anybody...?”
Voice of Victim “I no know nobody by di name ah “Biggs”.”
Before leaving the house, the perpetrators tied up the little boy’s hands, feet, and bound his mouth. Tonight the young mother and her son believe that three men took part in the attack as they spotted another person outside as the men escaped into the night. Marion Ali for News Five.
The woman says she did not recognize any of the voices that night, but believes her attackers were people who knew her and had been watching her movements for some time. In addition to the assault, the woman’s Ford Escort and nine thousand dollars worth of household appliances were stolen during the incident. The woman’s car was later found abandoned about four blocks away. Up to news time, no arrests had been made but police say their investigations continue.
U.S. donates to Belize’s anti-trafficking efforts
Belize’s anti-trafficking in persons efforts received a major financial boost this week courtesy of the United States Government. On Thursday, Minister of Human Development Sylvia Flores accepted a cheque valued at eighty thousand dollars from U.S. Ambassador to Belize, Robert Dieter. According to Dieter, the money is the first half of a total donation of a hundred and sixty thousand dollars to support a three year programme that targets human trafficking.
Robert Dieter, U.S. Ambassador to Belize “The 2007 annual Trafficking in Persons Report, prepared by the U.S. Government, identified Belize as a source, transient and destination country for trafficking in persons and recognises that although Belize has not yet fully complied with all the standards, it is making significant efforts to do so and to combat trafficking. When the U.S. assesses foreign government efforts and where we might be able to assist, we highlight the three Ps: prosecution, protection, and prevention. This project funds training for the judiciary to support the prosecution of traffickers, and to bolster victim/witness assistance and the project will provide money to refurbish a trafficking shelter to help protect victims and witnesses.”
Included in the initiative is a public awareness campaign which will be launched on radio stations countrywide and through a series of community workshops. The U.S. Government estimates that every year approximately eight hundred thousand people are trafficked across international borders. Of that number, eighty percent are female and more than half are minors.
CitCo signs sister agreement with Texas city
The Belize City Council has a new sister. News Five’s Jacqueline Godwin explains.
Zenaida Moya, Mayor, Belize City “I would like to welcome the entire delegation on behalf of myself, the Deputy Mayor, the entire council, all the staff, the management, all the residents of Belize City. And want to tell you this is an honour to be hosting you and we are very much looking forward to it.”
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
At today’s welcome reception for the visiting delegation from McAllen, Texas, Mayor Richard Cortez and members from the McAllen Chamber of Commerce formally established Sister-city relations with the Belize City Council. According to Belize City Mayor Zenaida Moya the working relationship will be beneficial for the country.
Zenaida Moya “We have many industries still in an infancy stage that require investment. This sister city relationship is definitely a means for those who want to chart international courses and invest their monies abroad while bringing economic development to us and earning profits for themselves. ... Belize City with its link to Central America, South America, and the Caribbean can surely become an important, international conference and business hub, fostering growth and development with the United States of America through this sister-city relationship.”
According to B.C.C.I.’s Chief Executive Officer Kevin Herrera, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomes the new connection.
Kevin Herrera, C.E.O., Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry “I am hoping that we can look seriously at those areas in agriculture and agro-processing so that we could try to export more products in those areas, but also tourism I think also has a lot of opportunities and I think the limitations is really our imagination with tourism. I think the more creative people can come and be creative in that sector, the more we will be able to pull tourists to our shores to bring in those precious foreign dollars.”
During the event, Mayor Cortez says his country is planning an intensive marketing campaign to promote Belize in the United States and Canada.
Richard Cortez, Mayor, McAllen City, State of Texas “We will promote you with our publications and websites. We will host the Texas Tropics Nature Festival visit to Belize. We will promote the Nature Festival trip through printed and national distribution with over two thousand brochures annually. We will promote your city with contacts with all the national travel writers, through trade shows and salesmanships et cetera. We will recommend qualified travel writers and journalists to your city.”
Jacqueline Godwin for News Five.
According to Cortez, with the assistance of businesses in McAllen, his city council annually invests four and a half million dollars promoting their municipality to the rest of the world.
Cook Off to take place at newly adopted Animal Park
If barbecue is your favourite Saturday meal, you need to head to the San Cas Park, formerly the Animal Park, this weekend. As part of official activities for the annual Kraft Barbecue Cook Off, chefs from across the country will compete for the public’s approval. According to the organisers, the event is designed to satisfy the pickiest palate.
Santino Castillo, C.E.O., San Cas Group “It’s sponsored by Santiago Castillo and Kraft and it’s a barbecue cook-off where each contestant gets a grill and they have to make the best chicken and pork chops, then there is tasting and people taste it and at the end of the day the judges decide who is the best chef. The champion chef gets to take home one thousand dollars and all of them get to take home their barbeque grills. Second place is seven hundred and third place is five hundred dollars. ... And we had many entries, dozens and dozens of entries from Belize, out-district, and we had to kinda have a raffle between them to pick the final six that will be barbecuing tomorrow.”
The event starts at nine and ends around three tomorrow afternoon. Plates of barbecue will sell for six dollars and up.
Visitors to the cook-off will also get the chance to see the renovations planned for Animal Park. Two months ago, the San Cas Group of Companies officially adopted the site and renamed it the San Cas Park. According to Castillo, that means a complete overhaul of the location.
Santino Castillo “The adoption entails us taking over the park, refurbishing it, renovating it, making it more modern, taking care of it, cleaning it. All the responsibilities that were formerly for the Belize City Council now are our responsibility.”
Marion Ali
“So at the end of the day how will the park look?”
Santino Castillo “Well we have a design that we brought out. ... Basically we’ll have a little area for people to congregate. We’ll have a little concert area, we’ll have a beach volleyball area as well and of course the usual thing for children, et cetera, et cetera. We hope it’ll be a pretty modern park that people will congregate to.”
Marion Ali
“Why did you undertake this initiative?”
Santino Castillo “Well the Belize City Council called me up and offered me several parks that were up for adoption and if I’d be interested and clearly it’s something that I think is good for the community. Our company, Santiago Castillo Limited and in fact the San Cas Group of Companies is always giving back to the community and we felt this was a positive way to do so and I chose this specific park out of all the others because of the Baron Bliss grave, the sea, you know, it’s just Belize and I think it’s a park that could really do a lot for this area.”
The proceeds of tomorrow’s event will go towards remodelling and renovating the park. The San Cas Group says its investment in the area will be approximately fifty thousand dollars.
B.F.L.A. initiative to focus on youth and positive activities
Another event scheduled for this weekend is also family oriented. According to the Belize Family Life Association, the Living in Love campaign will be officially launched on Saturday afternoon at The Wilton Cumberbatch Field. The initiative is designed to provide youths with information on issues affecting their lives and promote positive activities. This afternoon, organizers told us tomorrow’s entertainment will include performances by professional and amateur disc jockeys.
Melanie Montero, Dir. Education/Programs, BFLA “Taking into consideration all the activities that have been happening in terms of the high rate of crime, all those young guys being killed, and we decided to take a positive initiative and have youths—encourage them to participate in positive alternatives in terms of entertainment and also educational.”
“We will have a day where by we have DJ’s between the ages of twelve and nineteen, upcoming DJ’s, competing in a positive manner to promote HIV and AIDS awareness and teenaged pregnancy and other issues that are affecting youths today. Basically what they will be doing is we have five areas of judging, five criteria that we are looking for: the message in the music has to be positive and in terms of the skills of the DJ it is how they transition from one sound to the other.”
“Living in Love” is scheduled to begin at one on Saturday afternoon. A similar event is being planned for October twenty-seventh at the Lake I Community Centre, while a third will be held on November third at the Lopez Mateo Park. On November eleventh, the three semi-finalists will compete for a grand prize at the B.T.L. Park.
Teachers take stage in storytelling competition
Before pen and paper was used to record history, our ancestors used the art of storytelling to pass on the events of one generation to the next. Today the tradition is more entertainment than education, and as News Five’s Marion Ali explains, a new initiative is putting storytelling back in the spotlight.
Marion Ali, Reporting
On Thursday educators took centre stage at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts in the first annual Ministry of Education’s Pre-School Teachers’ Storytelling Competition. The ten teachers hailed from the Corozal, Orange Walk, and Belize Districts and the idea was to find the most entertaining and interesting storyteller.
Competition was stiff, but in the end Leolin Stephens of Harmony Pre School in Bermudian Landing claimed first prize with “The Dumpling Story”.
Leolin Stephens, Harmony Preschool, Bermudian Landing “In the olden days we used to put dumpling in our beans and in order for me to come up with the story I hear it one time before and I decide, well it sounds very good and interesting and I started to tell the children about the dumpling story at our preschool and they get to love it and every time they want to hear a story it’s about the dumpling.”
Marion Ali
“So you made it up yourself?”
Leolin Stephens “Yes, part of it I did.”
Teacher Sandra Reyes of Corozal’s Play World Methodist Preschool took second place with her version of “The Three Bears”.
Sandra Reyes, Play World Methodist Preschool, Corozal “I was encouraged by my helper, because I didn’t want to do this. She encouraged me and told me that I can do stories well because when I’m telling it at school she would sit down and (makes facial expression) so then I said okay I’m going to take a try at it. So that’s how I came here today.”
Marion Ali
“Was there a message behind the story that you told?”
Sandra Reyes “Yes, that children should not enter into people’s house who they don’t know because they don’t know what they can find inside, so they need to be careful of entering into one’s house.”
Rounding off the top three was Ruby Williams of Eternal Light Methodist in Burrell Boom with her take on “The Hungry Caterpillar”.
Ruby Williams, Eternal Light Methodist, Burrell Boom “Well I like telling stories and I love being in the teaching profession as a preschool teacher. And from the training that we did on storytelling I find that storytelling can put you somewhere in life. By teaching a story, whether in the house, in your school or elsewhere, you can teach somebody by telling a story.”
Marion Ali
“So this came easy for you?”
Ruby Williams “Yes, because I love it.”
According to organizers, inspiring preschool teachers to embrace the art of storytelling was the idea behind the event.
Leroy Green, Expressive Arts Coordinator, Ministry of Education “The whole objective is to motivate preschool teachers into becoming better public speakers, because while they do this with panache in front of their students you find that a lot of times when you ask teachers to speak in public they’re afraid of doing so. So this is the first step towards getting preschool teachers used to a stage.”
Green says the event will take place in the month of October every year. While all participants received certificates for their efforts, winners in the story telling competition were awarded trophies and school supplies. Marion Ali for News Five.
Amid the allegations of impropriety being hurled at the Government of Belize regarding the awarding of separate concessions to two local petroleum prospectors, tonight we understand that the government has launched an investigation into the matter. Sources tell News Five that Cabinet Secretary Bobby Leslie has been instructed to review the product sharing agreements presented by Minister of Natural Resources Florencio Marin at the June fifth Cabinet meeting. It is hoped that that examination will reveal whether the documents that were eventually signed were approved in their present form by the executive or altered after the meeting. Former Minister Johnny Briceño is claiming that when he resigned on June fourth the Petroleum Office had suggested a contract significantly different from those offered to local applicants—ZMT International and BCH International. Earlier this week, the opposition United Democratic Party presented those documents to the media, accusing G.O.B. of deliberately agreeing to a deal that was extraordinarily more favourable than those granted to other recent applicants. Principals of the companies are businessmen Zaid Flores, Michael Duncker, and Antonio Zabaneh. Attempts to contact both the Prime Minister and Minister Marin for comment regarding the contracts were unsuccessful today as they were on a tour of the Belize Rural North constituency. 
Almost two years ago he shot a cop and then turned the gun on himself, but tonight former tourism police officer Charles Grant is behind bars. Today in the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Troadio Gonzalez sentenced the thirty-six year old to a year in jail in connection with a series of incidents that occurred in January 2006. On the night in question, Grant shot Police Corporal Ian Geban, beat up his wife, threatened his brother-in-law, fired at a shot at his step-daughter, and then tried to kill himself. He was eventually arrested and after recovering in the hospital, was charged with Attempted Murder, Damage to Property, Use of Deadly Means of Harm, Aggravated Assault, Grievous Harm and Wounding. But when the case landed in the Supreme Court this month, all charges except that of Wounding were dropped when Grant pleaded guilty to that offence. He was defended by Attorney Dickie Bradley, while the case was prosecuted by Nigel Ebanks. 
Meanwhile, authorities are advising motorists travelling in the Stann Creek District not to pick up anyone acting suspiciously along the road. That’s because investigators have received reports that escaped prisoner Terry Bainton was spotted in the Hope Creek area earlier today. The convicted burglar was one of four men who escaped from the multi-max section of the Hattieville correctional facility just after midnight on Sunday during a series of blackouts. The other prisoners, Rupert Manzanero, Allan Cal, and Gilbert Requeña are also still on the run. 
If you’ve ever been the victim of a crime, you’re familiar with the feelings of violation and fear that takes hold. But tonight, a Belize City woman has come forward in the hope that by sharing her story of torture and trauma, her assailants will be brought to justice.
Belize’s anti-trafficking in persons efforts received a major financial boost this week courtesy of the United States Government. On Thursday, Minister of Human Development Sylvia Flores accepted a cheque valued at eighty thousand dollars from U.S. Ambassador to Belize, Robert Dieter. According to Dieter, the money is the first half of a total donation of a hundred and sixty thousand dollars to support a three year programme that targets human trafficking.
The Belize City Council has a new sister. News Five’s Jacqueline Godwin explains.
If barbecue is your favourite Saturday meal, you need to head to the San Cas Park, formerly the Animal Park, this weekend. As part of official activities for the annual Kraft Barbecue Cook Off, chefs from across the country will compete for the public’s approval. According to the organisers, the event is designed to satisfy the pickiest palate.
Another event scheduled for this weekend is also family oriented. According to the Belize Family Life Association, the Living in Love campaign will be officially launched on Saturday afternoon at The Wilton Cumberbatch Field. The initiative is designed to provide youths with information on issues affecting their lives and promote positive activities. This afternoon, organizers told us tomorrow’s entertainment will include performances by professional and amateur disc jockeys.
Before pen and paper was used to record history, our ancestors used the art of storytelling to pass on the events of one generation to the next. Today the tradition is more entertainment than education, and as News Five’s Marion Ali explains, a new initiative is putting storytelling back in the spotlight.
