Click here to print
Almost $400k In Jewellery Stolen From Roe Family
Thu, November 27, 2014
Tonight, Ladyville police have 2 men detained for a burglary of a house belonging to the Roe Family in Ladyville, in which thieves got away with around $390,000 worth of jewelry.

We can't give you much at this time about the burglary itself because the Roe family members have not given police a formal statement itemizing all their belongings that were stolen. What we do know is that the house on the Airport highway was targeted by thieves who broke in through the back door.

Once inside, the thieves went to the bathroom, where a safe with the very pricey jewelry was kept. Somehow, they broke into the safe swiped all the items inside and left everything else in the house untouched. Police don't know what to make of that, and they have strong suspicions that the thieves got inside information on how to get in.

But there is another element to the story, Lionel Bregal, the man who police have as their main suspect, says that Ladyville cops tried their very best to beat a confession statement out of him. His family made a clandestine voice recording in which Bregal talked while in custody about his ordeal. They wanted him to explain in his own words what happened, and here's what he had to say:

Lionel Bregal, Claims Police Brutality
"They took me at Crooked Tree last night. They took there to beat me and when I told them that I will give them what they want, they took me to granny. I told them in front of granny that I told them that because I wanted them to bring me here for my people to see the injury in my head and they laugh. They say that they will take 10 times and they will start to beat me."

Now, we get reports like his all the time, but his allegation has gotten some credibility because his attorney, Oscar Selgado, suspected what had taken place, and he got the Ombudsman, Lionel Arzu involved late last night. He told us that that, incredibly, the investigator admitted to them that Bregal was beaten while in custody. The cop allegedly tried to justify the unlawful behavior to the attorney:

Oscar Selgado, attorney
"The man arrived there about 10:30 last night and he made several calls and he requested of the Corporal to bring in the citizen and that was what happen. At about 10:30 last night, finally Lionel Bregal was brought to the police station. He was totally devastated, he was shattered, beaten by the police. His face was totally swollen; he had at least 3-4 what we called "guavas" on his forehead and on his cheeks, whether he was gun butted. He was bleeding from his head and he was taken to Karl Heusner. The Ombudsman requested that they do a proper medical of him and he was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where a medical officer, doctor, categorize his injury and treated him as harm. But interestingly when we were at the Ladyville Police Station, that same Corporal had a private discussion with me and the Ombudsman in which he sought to justify that because $390,000 of jewelry were stolen and a place was burglarized, this jewelry was stolen, that gave him the right to beat this citizen and to get a recorded confession from him. He admitted that the man confessed and he admitted that this man was beaten. He had to admit because I told him that I inspected this man in front of an officer at Queen Street Police Station and he was not in this condition."

Voice of Amy - Sister of Accused
"He said that they beat him until they got the answer that they wanted which was to admit to something he didn't do. They just wanted a confession on what is happening, so that they could stop abusing him. So he told them what they wanted to hear, so the beating could stop, which I mean anyone would have done that. A lot of thing ran through my mind because police are known to abused and kill young men. That is known. They beat a young man the other day until he "shit" himself literally. And this corporal has a beef against my brother. I am shook now."

Well that Corporal Sutherland told us just a few minutes ago that he said no such thing to Selgado and that he didn't lay a finger on Bregal. He says that Selgado came to the CIB office in Ladyville last night at 9:00 where they had an unofficial discussion about Bregal's rights to an attorney. He said that at no point did he discuss any injury to Bregal - who by that time had been taken to see a Doctor.

Police are holding Bregal based on the allegation that a Rolex container was found at Bregals' house in Belize City.

As Selgado is now a witness to the cop's alleged confession, the family's lawyer is now Audrey Matura Shepherd.

We tried to reach the Ombudsman today to confirm Selgado's account, but we were unable to do so. We'll try again tomorrow.

But, back to Lionel Bregal, we note that our records say that he has been accused of burglaries in 2009 and 2010.

Close this window