Important Note: This Internet version of 7 News is a verbatum
transcript of our evening television news script. Many interviews on our newscast
are conducted in Creole. In the interest of clarity for our foreign readers,
we attempt to paraphrase the Creole quotes in English
Last night, we told you about 11 year-old Daniel Matura who was killed in the crossfire of what police believe to be a gang rivalry. Today, his cousin-in-law, who police say shot him to death, was brought to Magistrate's Court.
31 year-old Andrew Willoughby, a laborer of Arlington Drive, was arraigned on 1 count of murder for the death of Daniel Matura, and 2 counts of attempted murder for shooting at Brandon Taylor and Roy Bennett.
Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith remanded him to prison until June 27, his next court date.
As we reported, on Monday morning at 8:30, Taylor and Bennett rode past the Matura residence on Central American Boulevard, and that's when Taylor allegedly pulled out a gun and threatened the Matura family.
Police say that Willoughby fired several shots at the men as they sped off on their bicycles.
Daniel Matura was returning from the shop when the shots were being fired, and he was hit by 3 of the bullets as Taylor and Bennett rode past him.
Matura suffered fatal injuries to the chest, and back.
And just before Willoughby was arraigned, the man he was aiming at was taken to court.
25 year-old Brandon Taylor, a construction worker of Jane Usher Boulevard, was arraigned on one count of murder for the shooting death of 28 year-old Kaylon Matura.
Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith remanded him to prison until June 26.
As we reported, at around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, May 16, 2012, Matura was getting ready to leave his house on Central American Boulevard for work, when a gunman ambushed him in front of his gate.
This gunman fired several gunshots, and 3 of those shots caught Matura: 1 in the chin and 2 in the chest.
Police initially held Taylor as a suspect, but no one would enter a statement naming him as the shooter.
And so, he was released on Saturday and by Monday morning, he was allegedly throwing threats at the Matura Yard and that led to the death of Daniel Matura.
Not surprisingly, his mother doesn't buy the story. She says he was at home when Kaylon Matura was shot one week ago. She asked to appear of camera, hut insisted on telling her son's side of the story:
Voice of: Mother of Brandon Taylor "Brandon was at home Wednesday morning. I didn't even go to my work on Wednesday."
Jules Vasquez "But are you sure that he stayed home during those hours, 7 o'clock, when that murder happened?"
Voice of: Mother of Brandon Taylor "Exactly, we were just sitting down in the house."
Jules Vasquez "You said that your son was at home on the morning of Kaylon Matura's murder. The police obviously don't believe you. They don't believe you. Are you telling the truth? Was he really at home? I know that we tend to take up for our children."
Voice of: Mother of Brandon Taylor "Well, I'm telling the honest truth. Brandon went and handed himself on Tuesday morning because Brandon knows that he did nothing because if Brandon was somebody who did something, you know that police would have had problems to find my son. They wouldn't have found him any at all; they would have gotten headaches looking and looking at my house to know where my son was. They had him pending for aggravated assault; they were going to give him a charge for aggravated assault. Now, this morning when Brandon told a young man to tell me to bring clothes for him at court, that was because they had my son for Kaylon Matura's murder, which isn't right because Brandon didn't commit that murder. They have to find the right person who did that murder."
Jules Vasquez "But at the same time, you accept that Brandon is no saint."
Voice of: Mother of Brandon Taylor "Yes of course, I accept that my son is no saint, and I accept that my son has been in and out of central prison."
Jules Vasquez "But the story that Mr. Willoughby, who fired the gun, is giving is that Brandon pulled out a gun, and said, 'I'm going to kill all of you.'"
Voice of: Mother of Brandon Taylor "Yes, I'll admit that Brandon passed the Matura yard, but the story that the young man is giving isn't so because if Brandon had a gun, Brandon would have taken - and everybody know that - Brandon will not take any gun, point it and tell you he'll kill you. Brandon will make sure that he shoots you because he'll make sure that you don't come and shoot him first. He will not pull out any gun and say, 'I'll kill you.' Brandon is not that type of person."
Jules Vasquez "You are describing him as a bad man."
Voice of: Mother of Brandon Taylor "No, I'm not really describing him as a bad man, but how do the streets stand out here? You can't be threatening people with gun because people don't take it that easy. People will make sure that they get after you first, you understand. So, Brandon never did pull out any gun after that young man. That young man only made that story up to make Brandon look bad, to make them give Brandon a charge, because he already did something wrong. So, he wants Brandon to be there with him charged for something too."
Taylor's mother - who did not want to give her name either - lives on Jane Usher Boulevard with her son. As his mother conceded, her son is no saint; he has been charged with murder twice previously, and attempted murder a few times. We stress though, he has not been convicted of any of those offences - even when he was accused of shooting at the police.
And while all parties can profess their innocence or blamelessness, the ugly truth is that a child is dead.
Eleven-year-old Daniel Matura is in the morgue - the standard three student's life cut tragically short when he was shot as a result of a war between adults.
Today his schoolmates from the Muslim Community School took to the streets to protest against violence. And right that they should - the school is at the corner of Faber's Road and Central American Boulevard; six people have been killed within a half-mile radius of that location in the past month.
It has put these children literally in the middle of a war zone - and today they walked through that area demanding peace - Monica Bodden has the story:
Monica Bodden Reporting
This morning residents of the Southside Community -where 11 year old Daniel Matura was gunned down- joined in with over 200 hundred students of Sister Clara Muhammad School - as they marched through the south side streets of Belize City - demanding peace!
Written on colorful banners and posters - were messages -most of which read - stop the violence!
These signs were waved high in the air - as others held up pictures of loved ones lost to gun violence.
Many chanted assalamu-alaikum to the tip of their voices - which means peace be unto you in the Muslim community.
It was a touching demonstration - with one message... the violence must stop.
Lana Ammad - Prinicipal, Clara Muhammad Primary "The purpose of this march this morning was to send out the message that we want peace. We want the crime and violence to stop because it is not only affecting the gangs; it's affecting our most innocent. It is affecting the future of our country, our children. We don't know what, if these children had the opportunity to continue living, what their lives would have turned out to be. And when you cut a young child's life short, we have cut a part of our future. But the message is about getting back the peace that we so desperately need, that we had one time where our children could have walked in a safe society. That's no longer the case."
Principal Ammad spoke about the importance of today's march for peace - and how it is being used as a healing process for her students to cope with the loss of 11 year old Daniel Matura - who also attended the Muslim Community Primary School in his neighborhood. Matura was gunned down on Monday morning.
Lana Ammad "They were excited to be a part of it. It is a different - the whole atmosphere was different from yesterday. Children are very resilient. They have a way of bouncing back, unlike us as adults that have so much in our heads. Their little minds - that's the amazing spirit about children, the amazing thing about children, they are able to bounce back quickly an reorganize, rethink, and refocus. So that is a blessing this morning for them to be involved in this. We have from our babies in Infant 1 who were out there, and they were part of it. So, all of the children were into it. They were very excited, and it think that it was very therapeutic for them as well because they felt that they were actually doing something, showing they are not in approval of what has happened to Daniel. And they can't get back Daniel, but the spirit of Daniel lives on through them."
Ammad agrees that the road ahead for peace will not be an easy journey but it starts now. Today's march is only the beginning of an ongoing initiative.
Lana Ammad "It has to do with the desire - the will of those concerned - those who are concerned with creating the kind of environment for the change, beginning our government, with us as parents, and making sure that this happens. As Muslims, we believe in peace; we don't believe in war and killing innocent people. We want to see the changes; it has touched us, and we cannot leave it like that. Not only that it has touched us, but it was a child in our school, and it has impacted us. So, this is not just a march today, and that's it. We're are hoping to form some kind of movement, and this is where the staff is going to come together, along with people from other schools who are concerned, and we're going to see how we're going to move from there because something has to come out from this."
The family has not yet finalized the arrangement for his funeral. His cousin Kaylon Matura was buried on Monday...
Tonight there are reports of a disturbing home invasion that has left a Belize City family shaken.
It happened on Freetown Road just after 7 last night when businessman Carlos Jacobo Peraza was at home with his 16 year old daughter and wife.
He told 7news that he noticed 3 men entering his yard - dressed in military style camouflage resembling police officers.
Peraza opened his front door to see what they wanted and that was when the trio stormed inside the house. One of the men was armed with a firearm and used his weapon to club Peraza in the head and face. The other two men demanded money from his wife. While she was being manhandled in front of her husband who had a gun pointed at his head - Mrs Peraza handed over three thousand, seven hundred dollars in cash and other personal items.
Their 16 year old daughter was in her bedroom on the upper floor of the Peraza's two story concrete home when she heard the commotion.
She bravely jumped through a window from her bedroom balcony to downstairs which - a 15 foot leap. She ran to her neighbors and called for help. The police arrived just minutes after while the 3 culprits were still inside the house along with Peraza and his wife.
Police got in through a side door and found 26 year old Jermaine Cattouse of Raccoon Street Extension, a teenaged minor of West Canal and 30 year old Lyjon Franklyn of Iguana Street Extension.
Police recovered all items stolen along with a 9mm Beretta pistol, 1 magazine containing 8 live 9mm rounds, Military style camouflage jackets and a cap with police marking on it.
The 3 were arrested and taken away.
In court this evening, Franklin, Cattouse, and a 16 year-old minor, were all arraigned before Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer.
They were jointly charged with keeping an unlicensed firearm, keeping unlicensed ammunition, and aggravated burglary. Cattouse was additionally charged with wounding and handling stolen goods.
All 3 men pleaded not guilty to the charges, but due to the nature of the offenses, they were remanded. They are to return on June 26, their next court date.
According to neighbors, the men had been seen lurking in the area for the past 3 days and last night they were dropped off by a taxicab - which had also been seen patrolling the area.
The main suspect in the killing of BDF Corporal Donovan Castillo has been released. The Director of Public Prosecutions instructed Dangriga Police to release 35 year old Belize city resident Martha Reid - who confessed to stabbing Castillo multiple times.
According to our information, the DPP wanted to see the findings of the post mortem examination, which would shed some light on whether Reid was acting in self-defence.
That post mortem examination was conducted today and it showed that the deceased, Castillo had no defensive wounds on his hands meaning that he was not in a position where he could defend himself when he was stabbed twice to the neck, once to the shoulder and sliced across his temple.
Based on that finding, the DPP's office has confirmed that based on the post mortem, Reid will now be arrested and charged for murder.
Tonight, the Leader Of The Opposition's hold on his seat in the Freetown Division is stronger than ever - after an election petition against him was struck out of court.
Originally, the petition brought by his former opponent Lee Mark Chang - alleged that on election day, Fonseca's workers bribed voters. But in court, the allegations were not substantiated.
Our newsroom got information earlier in the week that Chang intended to withdraw because his witnesses refused to commit themselves to witness statements which were supposed to be the foundation of this case.
And so no statements were presented to Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin in time for the first hearing today.
As a result, Chang's attorney, Michael Young, indicated that they would be forced to withdraw the petition, but the steps needed to do that were not taken. As a result, the lack of evidence was dealt with in court today.
Fonseca's attorneys, Eamon Courtenay and Godfrey Smith, filed 2 applications to have the court strike out the petition.
Young then asked the court to grant Chang more time to prepare his evidence, but Chief Justice Benjamin indicated that he cannot grant this extension because the law doesn't provide for it.
It was an abrupt end to this petition, so we spoke to both sides outside of court about what led to its failure
Here's what they had to say:
Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Francis Fonseca "We are certainly happy that the matter has been struck out by the Learned Chief Justice. I think that it is a disgrace that Lee Mark Chang is now prepared to accept the decision of the people. They spoke very loudly and rejected his candidacy. He brought this scandalous petition before the court, and when the appointed hour came up - I understand that he is not even in the country. That is the kind of respect that he has for this court. He is not even here; his witnesses are not here. It was stillborn; it was a disgrace, and it is an abuse of the process of the court. He had given notice that he wanted to withdraw, but in order to withdraw, you have to advertise in the Gazette that you intend to withdraw, which had not been done. We had filed 2 applications to have the petition struck out, so they conceded that we would succeed on the basis that no evidence was brought forward to support the vulgar allegations made by Mr. Lee Mark Chang. The truth of the matter is, as came out in court, the witnesses were all employees of Mr. Lee Mark Chang. They know that these allegations were not true, and we were ready to prove to the court by cross-examination that there is nothing more than a naked attempt by Lee Mark Chang to get the court to give a victory which the people denied him. Fortunately, they did the appropriate thing and at least come to court and admit that they didn't have any evidence against the Honorable Francis Fonseca."
Michael Young, SC - Attorney for Lee Mark Chang "We applied to withdraw the petition, and on their side, they applied to strike it out. What happened is that witnesses who had sworn affidavits, attesting that what they were saying in those affidavits were true, and that is the basis upon which the application was granted. And when I say that they swore affidavits, the process was something that was witness by us - more than one attorney - and they swore before commissioners of the Supreme Court, and so the evidence was filed. As things have gone on - as happens to witnesses at times in this country, as everybody knows - cool feet, so to speak, and I am not going to talk about the basis and the reasons why they had cold-feet. We had some information in that regard, but it is not something that I wish to discuss, except to say that the petitioners themselves - they proceeded on the basis of the evidence which had been given to their attorneys, and given in court. Those witnesses, after the court had ordered that witness statements be signed - in other words fresh documents being signed by these witnesses - they were unwilling to sign. So, there was no evidence to present to the court, and so, petitioners had no option but to withdraw; that's what happened. I must say that there was still some evidence left that we could have proceeded with, but in all the circumstances, we wanted the case to have certain level of credibility. And it was decided - of course the petitioners themselves, after discussion with their attorneys - they decided not to proceed."
As noted in the interview, when Chief Justice Benjamin struck the petition out, he awarded $7,500 in costs to Fonseca and his attorneys.
Exactly 5 weeks ago, 7News told you about 27 year-old Gion Bernard who was charged with attempted murder for the April 24 shooting of Jermaine "Horse" Garnett. Well, now, he's been charged in connection with another shooting incident.
Codrington Bodden, who was shot in the face just up the street from where Garnett was attacked, only one day earlier. Bodden finally made his report on last week Friday.
As a result, they charged Bernard with attempted murder, wounding, and use of deadly means of harm.
According to the reports to our newsroom, Bodden was shot due a personality in the area who was involved in an illicit transaction.
You may recall that Bodden was the man who was shot at ten on the morning of April 23rd - just as the Minister of National security was starting a press conference on anti-crime measures.
The Actun Tunichil Muknal cave or ATM - for short, may be the most prized and treasured Mayan site in Belize - and that's because of the spectacular skeletal remains of 15 individuals that can be found there.
They are estimated to be over a thousand years old - and the most precious is the so called Crystal Maiden, the skeletal remains of a young woman.
Not far from Belmopan, it is a popular tourist destination, but a couple weeks ago, during one of the regular tours, one of the tourists got a little careless around one of the skeletons. He dropped his camera, fracturing one of the thousand year old skulls.
No, it wasn't on the famous crystal maiden - but it is still a very serious issue, and today we spoke to Director of the Institute of Archaeology Jaime Awe who told us how serious it is, and how they plan to prevent this from happening again.
Dr. Jaime Awe - Director, Institute of Archaeology "Recently, we had a small accident at the Actun Tunichil Muknal Archaeological Park. We believe that a guest - a tourist - who was in there, was taking a photograph with a camera. The camera slipped and fell out of their hands, and it landed and damaged one of the skulls, and it broke a section of the upper part of the skull. I sent in a team from the Institute of Archaeology, and we went in. We looked at the skull, and we think that we can make repairs to it. We have been, for some time, thinking about disallowing the use of cameras in the cave, unless under special permission. And when this incident happened a couple weeks ago, it really spurred that decision and urged us to implement it as of now. Hence, as of this past week, and we will no longer allow guests and visitors to go in with cameras. I am compiling that we will put on a DVD, and these will be available for sale to guests going to the site. And in many ways, this will help us - and again, to enforce this law - at the same time, it might be another source of revenue for the Institute of Archaeology. The cave is awesome; it contains the remains of people who were sacrificed in there. It contains artifacts that were left in there as offerings to the gods, and the cave is beautiful in terms of its formation. To me, it is not just the cultural remains in the cave that make it important; it's also the cave formations in different rooms in some of the chambers in the cavern. So it's certainly one of Belize's premier caves. I think that this incident has made us all acutely aware of the need to be conservation-minded, of the need to be careful, of the need to tell people that they've got watch where they step. We can put in lights in the cave, and we could set barriers up, but then, it would total destroy the beautiful experience that one has. This incident has made all the tour guides a lot more aware that they are the vanguards. They have to be responsible for the tourists that go in there that they have to manage these groups with a lot more care."
Since a small section of the skull was broken, the team plans to fix it so that the break is not obvious, and as for the tourists entering the cave, cameras are banned as of the 4th of May unless they have permission by N.I.C.H.
Last week - the GSU conducted a 12 hour search on Brian Brown's home in the Faber's Road area. Brown is considered a kingpin in the GSG - the gang called George Street Gaza.
They found an assortment of items, from bulletproof vests, to high grade marijuana called Purple Haze, to crack cocaine and cash.
They found all those items - but they did not find Brian Brown - who was not at home - and at large.
That's where he has been for the past week - until he turned himself into police today.
He is in police custody tonight, after he handed himself in this afternoon.
Brown handed himself to CIB at around 1:30 p.m. today in the presence of his attorney, Dickie Bradley.
Bradley told court reporters earlier this morning that he was making arrangements for Brown to turn himself in.
Bradley, who was in court, received a call from with the Brown's location, and he immediately moved to pick up Brown.
At around 12 this afternoon, a black vehicle arrived at the court, and Brown then moved to Bradley's vehicle, and in the presence of his attorney, they drove to CIB where he officially handed himself in.
It is expected that Brown will face Six counts of drug trafficking; One count of Possession of a bong used for the smoking of cannabis, One count of Possession of unregistered bullet proof vest.
A 12 year old boy is on his way to the United States to receive surgery to correct a rare condition: he was born with an extra kidney.
Glenford Cadle Jr., a standard 5 student from San Pedro Town, was born with three kidneys. He was diagnosed a couple months ago, and with the help of the World Pediatric Project, he may be able to live a normal life. Robin Schaffer has the story.
Robin Schaffer Reporting
12 year old Glenford Cadle Jr. may look excited as would any other 10 year old headed for the states.
Robin Schaffer "Have you been to the States before?"
Glenford Cadle Jr. - 12 Year-old Born with 3 Kidneys "No."
Robin Schaffer "So, are you excited to be going?"
Glenford Cadle Jr. "Yes, ma'am."
Robin Schaffer "What are some of the things that you want your parents to do for you when you get there? Where do you want them to take you?"
Glenford Cadle "A lot of places."
He was booked for an 11 a.m. flight for North Carolina en route to Richmond Virginia, but this std. 5 student isn't going for vacation; he's going for surgery.
Glenford Cadle Sr. - Father "About 2 months ago, he was diagnosed with a Kidney problem, and we've been to the Belize Healthcare Partners, where he was treated. And we found out that his condition is a very serious. It's been over 2 months now that we've been back and forth to the doctors treating him, taking a lot of antibiotics to keep him going, until finally, this day, we are heading to Richmond Virginia, where he is going to be doing a surgery, probably in the next couple of days - maybe 3 to 4 days."
Glenford Jr. was born with 3 kidneys. He didn't find out about the extra 1 until he was 11 years old and started to get weak and tired.
Glenford Cadle Jr. "I found out the Sunday night when I fell down, then the Monday morning I felt hurt, and I couldn't stand it. I told my dad how a felt, and they took me to the polyclinic. They gave me a checkup, and they all kinds of tests, and I couldn't feel it."
Robin Schaffer "Are you nervous or scared?"
Glendford Cadle Jr. "I'm not that scared for the surgery; I'm glad that they are doing it."
Glenford Cadle Sr. "He had some small symptoms when he was about 8, but nothing too serious until now when he turned 11, that's when the situation got really bad. He started getting really sleepy, not moving around, and one time, we noticed that in the bathroom, he was passing some urine, and that's when we realized that he had a problem. That's when we first took him to the doctor. It turned out that on the right side, there were 2 kidneys coming together, on the left side, one kidney, which was working excellent, and it turned out where there's 2 kidneys, the top part was working well, and the bottom part was what was causing all the infections. So when we get over there, they're going to look at all of that to see how best they can treat this, and if they have to eliminate the bad piece, or they're going to take out the whole thing. We're going to know when we get there."
So, the family turned to the World Pediatric Project for help, and they say that they are very grateful.
Glenford Cadle Sr. "It was very dramatic. We had our backs to the wall, and we didn't know what to do until we were sent over to the World Pediatric Project, where our case was submitted to the US, and after 3 weeks, we got a call that our case had been accepted. That was a great feeling for it to be lifted from us to know that our son was going to get good care and treatment to reach back in Belize in good health."
And now the prognosis that he'll live a regular life is good.
Alicia Cadle "He should be living a normal life, according to the doctors; the US doctors were here in Belize. They had him checked at the Karl Heusner, and he is doing fine so far, and we'll hope for the best for him."
33 year-old Teresita Flores is at prison tonight after she was busted with over 16 Kilos - that's over 36 pounds(!) of marijuana this morning.
According to police, at around 8:35, they searched at Flores' residence at #7031 Pelican Street extension.
Inside a clothing barrel in her room, they found 16.7 kilos of marijuana packaged off in various plastic bags and a multi-coloured "Winnie the Pooh" handbag.
While that may explain why Pooh Bear is always hungry, forgetful and lethargic, Flores had her own explanation: she told Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer that she didn't know what was in the barrel. She also said that she was doing a favor to a friend.
With that she pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Senior Magistrate Frazer did not accept this as a good enough reason to grant her bail, and as a result, she remanded Flores to prison until June 22.
Police have provided details on the murder we told you about last night, the one at the remote western reaches of the Cayo district.
The body of 40 year old Guatemalan Enecon Moralez was found yesterday afternoon about one and a half miles North of Xunantunich and about 200 yards from the Belize-Guatemala border.
His father told police that Moralez went to go cut firewood at 8:00 in the morning. When he didn't return, checks were made and they found him dead from a gunshot to the head.
Though Moralez was encroaching in Belizean territory, the area he was in is closer to a settled community in Guatemala. Belize police found out about the murder from their Guatemalan counterparts and had to access the crime scene through Melchor.
Still, the homicide happened in Belize and the post mortem will be conducted in Belize.
In October of last year, the KHMH instituted a Cardio-Cath programme in Belize, and in 7 months, this programme has treated an impressive 52 patients.
The procedure - which was not offered in Belize before - costs about 15,000 US dollars in the United States, and about $2000 US dollars in neighboring countries, but under this programme, it costs Belizeans about $750 US dollars; that's $1500 Belize dollars.
Today, the Cardiovascular team led by Dr. Glen Kowalchuk held a press conference to celebrate the milestone, and explain how important this is to the country.
Dr. Francis Gary Longsworth - CEO, KHMH "We've manage to see, evaluate, and in some cases, manage quite a few patients since the inauguration of the Cath Lab service."
Dr. Chadwick - Cardiac Lab Specialist "Catheterization really is only half the story. What we're doing really is identifying severe cardiovascular problems which are correctable. And by correcting these problems, individuals who suffer from these problems, will be able to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. What is done with the cardiac catheterization is that a tube is placed into the artery, through the leg - we're doing the femoral approach - the catheter is advanced to aorta, where the arteries that feed the heart come off, and we inject x-ray dye into the arteries that feed the heart, to visualize any potential blockages, or any particular shunts - holes - that may be there. Not every problem can be corrected, and that's unfortunate, but it does identify a number of cases which are treatable, or it helps to guide our therapy."
Dr. Adrian Coye - Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery "The event may not be that the life is change or saved that point of doing the procedure, but the quality of life is made better because now, you're doing specific goal-directed therapies toward that condition that you've now clearly defined."
Dr. Curtis Samuels - Cardiologist "Here at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, we don't have anybody who has the training or the skills in cardiac catheterization from a coronary perspective, but the plan is to actually involve training. The idea is to have a local team trained in the event that something will occur."
Dr. Adrian Coye "We are bringing medicine - or cardiac care - from the dark ages, into what is accepted standard care. I would expect that within 2 years, we would be a stand-alone program, but what we have is an unparalleled generosity, where they are not coming for a year or 2, and that's it. This is a life-long journey, but it's just the begining, and we want that this program evolves."
Although local doctors still cannot perform the procedure by themselves, the team says that Belizean doctors should be able to do the surgery -alone- in 2 years.
Youths Design Virtual City
Today the first annual "My Virtual City" competition was held at the Princess Hotel and Casino. 8 teams from 6 schools designed and built models of futuristic cities, addressing social issues such as poverty, crime, health and pollution.
It was an all-day event, in which the students displayed and presented on their projects. The competition was guided by the theme "Designing our Future! Mobilizing People for Change!" , and it was done using hi tech mapping and planning software.
It was divided into 2 segments - a junior segment and a senior segment- and during the award ceremony that followed, the winners were beaming, and one was so overwhelmed by it all he was even moved to tears.
Max McField - Junior 1st Place Winner, BES "I am representing all of us, and I just want to say thank you to the GIS, Ms. Catherina, Ms. Loretta, and especially Mr. Andrew, who went to a lot of practices with. We really couldn't do it without him. I really just want to say thank you for all of this for renting the Princess and everything. I really thought we were not going to make it, so we worked really hard. And at the end, when they were giving out some award on best use of GIS, and when we didn't get any, I thought that this wasn't looking good. At the end, I was shocked. It's a major honor, and it feels really good to us to have been going through all this, and then at the end come in at the top."
Chloe Kelly - Junior 1st Place, BES "It's amazing, and it's worth all that working hard, and staying up. It's very worth it what all we have done."
Robin Schaffer "So can you describe your project for me?"
Chloe Kelly "It's an eco-friendly city that has many job opportunities, and has sustainable energy, which uses solar. And if something happens to solar energy, we have a back up, which is windmill power."
William Mahler - 1st Place Senior Winner, CCC "Well, terra nova, a city of opportunities, built in such a way that all of you are invited, Thank you."
Phillip Gongora - 1st Place Senior Winner, CCC "We feel happy and so excited because we worked so hard, and all this time we dedicated toward this competition, we feel ecstatic that we actually won."
William Mahler "It's a feeling that cannot be expressed. Our city is basically founded upon education and also not excluding our history, so a city of opportunities, Terra Nova."
Robin Schaffer "How did you get that name?"
William Mahler "Well, it's a long story. Basically, it means new land, and we wanted things to be new. So that's how we came up with the name"
Phillip Gongora "The Mestizo culture would say 'tierra nueva', so it's from that."
Robin Schaffer "So how much hours did you put into it?"
Phillip Gongora "A lot of hours."
William Mahler "Nights, Days, sleepless nights. You can see it in our eyes that we are tired."
Phillip Gongora "Last night was a sleepless one."
Brandon Bennett - 2nd Place Winner, New Horizon "Well, Arcadia is an eco-friendly, technology-based city, which is very safe and economic, and hopes to improve Belize."
Robin Schaffer "How did it feel to come in second?"
Brandon Bennett "Well, it was a great relief because sometimes we had sleepless nights, working on the model, sleepless nights working on the virtual city. To tell you the truth, it was crunch time because actually thought that we couldn't finish. It was a great relief. Now we can finally go to sleep."
Osean Hyde - 2nd Place Winner, New Horizon "We were trying so hard to win. We almost quit. We were so close to quitting, and we finally said that we couldn't allow anyone else to win. We did it and we won."
Prizes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners were laptop computers, smart phones and ipods, respectively.
Belize Athletes Depart For Regional Games
A contingent of 35 Belizean athletes is tonight on their way to El Salvador where they will be representing Belize in the Annual Central American Junior Competition. The group left the city at 2:30 this afternoon by bus and is expected to arrive in El Salvador tomorrow morning.
7news caught up with them before their departure.
Deon Sutherland - Vice - President, BAAA "Well, this is one of our mandatory events, the Central American Junior A and Junior B competitions, which we must attend for the year. It ranges from ages 15 to 19. This competition carries to categories: 15 to 17, and 18 and 19. These athletes will be competing in athletics: both the field and the track events. We have a contingent of 35 athletes, and 6 adults: me as the delegate, 3 coaches, and 2 female chaperones."
Monica Bodden "Now, tell us about preparations for this. How was practice to get ready for this tournament?"
Deon Sutherland "Well, you know that we don't have the facility. These kids have been working out at the MCC Grounds for the past few months, but what happened is that because the time was short for the BAAA to do an event without having the proper facility and funding, the results of the national secondary school athletic competition, which was held in Dangriga on the 4th and 5th of May, those results, were used to make the selection for the team here today. So, from that result, we have these teams."
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Last night, we told you about 11 year-old Daniel Matura who was killed in the crossfire of what police believe to be a gang rivalry. Today, his cousin-in-law, who police say shot him to death, was brought to Magistrate's Court.
And just before Willoughby was arraigned, the man he was aiming at was taken to court.
"Brandon was at home Wednesday morning. I didn't even go to my work on Wednesday."
And while all parties can profess their innocence or blamelessness, the ugly truth is that a child is dead.
"The purpose of this march this morning was to send out the message that we want peace. We want the crime and violence to stop because it is not only affecting the gangs; it's affecting our most innocent. It is affecting the future of our country, our children. We don't know what, if these children had the opportunity to continue living, what their lives would have turned out to be. And when you cut a young child's life short, we have cut a part of our future. But the message is about getting back the peace that we so desperately need, that we had one time where our children could have walked in a safe society. That's no longer the case."
Tonight there are reports of a disturbing home invasion that has left a Belize City family shaken.
The main suspect in the killing of BDF Corporal Donovan Castillo has been released. The Director of Public Prosecutions instructed Dangriga Police to release 35 year old Belize city resident Martha Reid - who confessed to stabbing Castillo multiple times.
Tonight, the Leader Of The Opposition's hold on his seat in the Freetown Division is stronger than ever - after an election petition against him was struck out of court.
"We are certainly happy that the matter has been struck out by the Learned Chief Justice. I think that it is a disgrace that Lee Mark Chang is now prepared to accept the decision of the people. They spoke very loudly and rejected his candidacy. He brought this scandalous petition before the court, and when the appointed hour came up - I understand that he is not even in the country. That is the kind of respect that he has for this court. He is not even here; his witnesses are not here. It was stillborn; it was a disgrace, and it is an abuse of the process of the court. He had given notice that he wanted to withdraw, but in order to withdraw, you have to advertise in the Gazette that you intend to withdraw, which had not been done. We had filed 2 applications to have the petition struck out, so they conceded that we would succeed on the basis that no evidence was brought forward to support the vulgar allegations made by Mr. Lee Mark Chang. The truth of the matter is, as came out in court, the witnesses were all employees of Mr. Lee Mark Chang. They know that these allegations were not true, and we were ready to prove to the court by cross-examination that there is nothing more than a naked attempt by Lee Mark Chang to get the court to give a victory which the people denied him. Fortunately, they did the appropriate thing and at least come to court and admit that they didn't have any evidence against the Honorable Francis Fonseca."
"We applied to withdraw the petition, and on their side, they applied to strike it out. What happened is that witnesses who had sworn affidavits, attesting that what they were saying in those affidavits were true, and that is the basis upon which the application was granted. And when I say that they swore affidavits, the process was something that was witness by us - more than one attorney - and they swore before commissioners of the Supreme Court, and so the evidence was filed. As things have gone on - as happens to witnesses at times in this country, as everybody knows - cool feet, so to speak, and I am not going to talk about the basis and the reasons why they had cold-feet. We had some information in that regard, but it is not something that I wish to discuss, except to say that the petitioners themselves - they proceeded on the basis of the evidence which had been given to their attorneys, and given in court. Those witnesses, after the court had ordered that witness statements be signed - in other words fresh documents being signed by these witnesses - they were unwilling to sign. So, there was no evidence to present to the court, and so, petitioners had no option but to withdraw; that's what happened. I must say that there was still some evidence left that we could have proceeded with, but in all the circumstances, we wanted the case to have certain level of credibility. And it was decided - of course the petitioners themselves, after discussion with their attorneys - they decided not to proceed."
Exactly 5 weeks ago, 7News told you about 27 year-old Gion Bernard who was charged with attempted murder for the April 24 shooting of Jermaine "Horse" Garnett. Well, now, he's been charged in connection with another shooting incident.
The Actun Tunichil Muknal cave or ATM - for short, may be the most prized and treasured Mayan site in Belize - and that's because of the spectacular skeletal remains of 15 individuals that can be found there.
"Recently, we had a small accident at the Actun Tunichil Muknal Archaeological Park. We believe that a guest - a tourist - who was in there, was taking a photograph with a camera. The camera slipped and fell out of their hands, and it landed and damaged one of the skulls, and it broke a section of the upper part of the skull. I sent in a team from the Institute of Archaeology, and we went in. We looked at the skull, and we think that we can make repairs to it. We have been, for some time, thinking about disallowing the use of cameras in the cave, unless under special permission. And when this incident happened a couple weeks ago, it really spurred that decision and urged us to implement it as of now. Hence, as of this past week, and we will no longer allow guests and visitors to go in with cameras. I am compiling that we will put on a DVD, and these will be available for sale to guests going to the site. And in many ways, this will help us - and again, to enforce this law - at the same time, it might be another source of revenue for the Institute of Archaeology. The cave is awesome; it contains the remains of people who were sacrificed in there. It contains artifacts that were left in there as offerings to the gods, and the cave is beautiful in terms of its formation. To me, it is not just the cultural remains in the cave that make it important; it's also the cave formations in different rooms in some of the chambers in the cavern. So it's certainly one of Belize's premier caves. I think that this incident has made us all acutely aware of the need to be conservation-minded, of the need to be careful, of the need to tell people that they've got watch where they step. We can put in lights in the cave, and we could set barriers up, but then, it would total destroy the beautiful experience that one has. This incident has made all the tour guides a lot more aware that they are the vanguards. They have to be responsible for the tourists that go in there that they have to manage these groups with a lot more care."
Last week - the GSU conducted a 12 hour search on Brian Brown's home in the Faber's Road area. Brown is considered a kingpin in the GSG - the gang called George Street Gaza.
A 12 year old boy is on his way to the United States to receive surgery to correct a rare condition: he was born with an extra kidney.
"About 2 months ago, he was diagnosed with a Kidney problem, and we've been to the Belize Healthcare Partners, where he was treated. And we found out that his condition is a very serious. It's been over 2 months now that we've been back and forth to the doctors treating him, taking a lot of antibiotics to keep him going, until finally, this day, we are heading to Richmond Virginia, where he is going to be doing a surgery, probably in the next couple of days - maybe 3 to 4 days."
"He should be living a normal life, according to the doctors; the US doctors were here in Belize. They had him checked at the Karl Heusner, and he is doing fine so far, and we'll hope for the best for him."
33 year-old Teresita Flores is at prison tonight after she was busted with over 16 Kilos - that's over 36 pounds(!) of marijuana this morning.
In October of last year, the KHMH instituted a Cardio-Cath programme in Belize, and in 7 months, this programme has treated an impressive 52 patients.
"We've manage to see, evaluate, and in some cases, manage quite a few patients since the inauguration of the Cath Lab service."
"Catheterization really is only half the story. What we're doing really is identifying severe cardiovascular problems which are correctable. And by correcting these problems, individuals who suffer from these problems, will be able to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. What is done with the cardiac catheterization is that a tube is placed into the artery, through the leg - we're doing the femoral approach - the catheter is advanced to aorta, where the arteries that feed the heart come off, and we inject x-ray dye into the arteries that feed the heart, to visualize any potential blockages, or any particular shunts - holes - that may be there. Not every problem can be corrected, and that's unfortunate, but it does identify a number of cases which are treatable, or it helps to guide our therapy."
"The event may not be that the life is change or saved that point of doing the procedure, but the quality of life is made better because now, you're doing specific goal-directed therapies toward that condition that you've now clearly defined."
"Here at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, we don't have anybody who has the training or the skills in cardiac catheterization from a coronary perspective, but the plan is to actually involve training. The idea is to have a local team trained in the event that something will occur."
Today the first annual "My Virtual City" competition was held at the Princess Hotel and Casino. 8 teams from 6 schools designed and built models of futuristic cities, addressing social issues such as poverty, crime, health and pollution.
"I am representing all of us, and I just want to say thank you to the GIS, Ms. Catherina, Ms. Loretta, and especially Mr. Andrew, who went to a lot of practices with. We really couldn't do it without him. I really just want to say thank you for all of this for renting the Princess and everything. I really thought we were not going to make it, so we worked really hard. And at the end, when they were giving out some award on best use of GIS, and when we didn't get any, I thought that this wasn't looking good. At the end, I was shocked. It's a major honor, and it feels really good to us to have been going through all this, and then at the end come in at the top."
"It's amazing, and it's worth all that working hard, and staying up. It's very worth it what all we have done."
"Well, terra nova, a city of opportunities, built in such a way that all of you are invited, Thank you."
"We feel happy and so excited because we worked so hard, and all this time we dedicated toward this competition, we feel ecstatic that we actually won."
"Well, Arcadia is an eco-friendly, technology-based city, which is very safe and economic, and hopes to improve Belize."
"We were trying so hard to win. We almost quit. We were so close to quitting, and we finally said that we couldn't allow anyone else to win. We did it and we won."
"Well, this is one of our mandatory events, the Central American Junior A and Junior B competitions, which we must attend for the year. It ranges from ages 15 to 19. This competition carries to categories: 15 to 17, and 18 and 19. These athletes will be competing in athletics: both the field and the track events. We have a contingent of 35 athletes, and 6 adults: me as the delegate, 3 coaches, and 2 female chaperones."
