7 News Belize

The Pitfalls Of Challenging A Pastor
posted (November 12, 2012)
On Friday the Baptist Association of Belize sent out a press release disclaiming alleged child predator Julio Garcia - saying he is not the Pastor of Franks Eddy Baptist Church, as had been claimed in Tuesday's news.

Well, it isn't something we just made up. That's what villagers told us when we went there, and it's also what they told police. So, today, we checked back with the villagers - they were firm in their position: Julio Garcia was introduced to them as Pastor. But in a small community, such as this one, terrible incidents like this one have far-reaching consequences.

It has created a rift between the villagers whose daughters were targeted - and who chose to go public - and those villagers who don't believe the allegations.

We didn't find the community as cooperative as when we first followed the story, but the mother of the 11 year-old victim spoke to us on what she has been experiencing since she last spoke with us.

Here's what she had to say about Garcia being introduced as the new pastor, and what her daughter and her family has been experiencing:

Voice of Mother - Her Child Was Abused
"This is serious of them - they want to say that this man is not a pastor but when they brought this man here they told all of us in the church that they bring his as a pastor. If he was not a pastor why did they put this person like that not knowing him well. I don't know what are they saying this because if you go and ask all the members of the church they will tell you that this man was a pastor."

"Lots of people are angry and upset with me because I am saying the truth and God knows that I am talking with my heart. I will not stop going to church because of this. I don't care what people say. If they are saying this man was not a pastor then why did they put this man there?"

Daniel Ortiz
"How long has this man been in the church ministering to you guys as the pastor of Frank's Eddy Baptist Church?"

Voice of Mother - Her Child Was Abused
"About 3 months he has been here. But in Belize I don't know how much they know him, but as I heard the real pastor for the church didn't know this man very well."

Reporter
"Did you expect that coming out public would make you have more enemies than supporters because it seems that there are people who are angry with you? Did you expect that there would be so many people angry with you than the person who actually did the crime?"

Voice of Mother - Her Child Was Abused
"I won't say any names. Some people are just looking at me and some of them are mad saying that this is a lie. The God that I serve, he knows that I am not lying because these are things that we should not play with."

"I don't care because I know I know the truth and this was what happened and I can't say this is a lie."

The mother of the victim also told us that she has not been coping well at school, and they still need to try to find money to do tests to see what internal damage the sexual abuse may have caused her.

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