7 News Belize

You may recall that on January 31st, the Crooked Tree Lagoon saw one of the worst boating accidents in memory. The Lagoon Causeway had been flooded for months, and the Coast Guard had been running a boat back and forth many times a day to get village residents from one side to the other. But on that day in January, one of the coast guard vessels crashed into the other â€“ killing 20 year old Benjamin Gentle and injuring nine other students.

Today, over 7 months later, 49 year old Coast Guard Officer Whaine Williams was charged for manslaughter by negligence. Williams was arraigned in Court #1 before Magistrate Herbert Panton where he was unrepresented. It is an indictable offense, so no plea was taken from Williams and the court prosecutor had no objection to bail so Magistrate Panton offered him bail of $2,000 dollars plus one surety of the same amount which he met within 15 minutes of his arraignment. After the charge was read to him, Magistrate Panton said, "I could not help but question why you are before me on this charge." He commented saying that "Weren't you in the execution of your duties?" Nevertheless, the charge was read to him and tonight, Williams is home with his family. No other charges were levy against him although eight others were injured in the boat accident.