Tonight, the 5 men charged for Pastor Lue's murder are in jail.  They are William “DANNYâ€￾ Mason, Ashton Vanegas, Keron Fernandez, Terrence Fernandez, and Ernest Castillo.

We'll take you to the court room for a fully detailed account of all the courtroom drama, but first, we have the full police account of how exactly Pastor Llewelyn Lucas was killed.  Police revealed it today in court to convince the Chief Magistrate that there is sufficient evidence gathered against the accused men.

According to police investigation, on Friday afternoon, July 15, Mennonite David Dodd, Pastor Lue, and another man all went to Mason's Belmopan Home, in the Intelco area. Dodd told police that while there, they were kidnapped by an assailant who they did not see. They were tied up, duct taped, and blindfolded.

Dodd says that they were then led to a vehicle, which carried them for about 30 minutes, and when it stopped, they were taken out. They later realized that they had been taken to Mason's ranch, seen here, which is located between mile 30 and 31 on the George Price Highway.

The blindfolds were removed, and Dodd tells police that he didn’t see Pastor Lue again, who was with them at Mason’s house.

Dodd said that who he did see were the 5 men now accused of murder and kidnapping, and that's when William Mason and his 4 other associates threatened them and instructed them to leave the property and “pretend like nothing ever happenedâ€￾. The men walked out, and realized where they were, and as soon as they managed to get transportation, they reported the entire ordeal to police. 

That same evening a police Sargeant saw William Mason at Bario Fino Bar. He was in the company of the same 4 men who Dodd said he saw, and who are now charged. They smashed the glass of his truck after he was acting suspiciously, and that's when they found the pastor's head in bucket, which was in the back of the truck.

Yesterday, the Acting Commissioner of Police stressed that they discovered the head in the bucket by pure luck:

Russell Blackett - Acting Commissioner of Police
“Had it not been conducting this investigation and was tracking this man trying to locate him; there is a possibility we would have been investigating a missing persons' report."

And based on that luck, immediately after that explosive find, police started searching Mason's properties, and particularly the ranch where Dodd was taken. That's where they found what they believe to be the burnt remains of the Pastor's body. Acting on information, police then pumped sludge from a 10 foot pond. That took them an entire 2 days, and their efforts were rewarded when they found the knife, which they believe to be the murder weapon.
 Â 
And, that brings us up to speed with what happened until yesterday when the cops tried to get these 5 men arraigned on the charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

Jules Vasquez picks it up in Belmopan with the first failed attempt:

The Belmopan Magistrate’s court was un-remarkable yesterday afternoon we could see police ambling over with suspects at the usual leisurely pace.

But at 3:30, the complexion and climate of the day changed when the Mobile Interdiction Team swooped in like Power Rangers and that’s where the pushback began – telling the press that we were tampering in the investigation – whatever that means - and making room for the Belmopan equivalent of a Pincer Maneuver, with five police trucks positioning themselves so that the van with the suspects would be right at the courtroom door,

While the other trucks would form a cordon around it deliberately blocking the view of onlookers and the press As many as 20 police officers clumsily laying this scene with the kind of full court press we never see And larger than life firepower to back it up and one more truck to make sure no one saw or got close to the suspects

At about 4:00 the van doors were opened and the suspects, hidden behind the scrum of vehicles slipped into court, with the press pushed a hundred feet back.

This was no routine arraignment – in fact we’ve never seen one like it – and their attorney said the same applied in court:

Herbert Panton - Attorney for the Accused
"So they were not arraigned today. The matter has been adjourned to Belize City and they have been ordered to be released."

They were released alright – right back into police custody! This was the scene at the Belmopan Police station around 5:00 pm when the MIT blocked off the station from the public the backdoor and the front door of the slender building was secured shoulder to shoulder and the police chased us again – keeping our camera away from the location where the suspects would be released and re-arrested

No matter how much we went back – it wasn’t enough

Officer
"I gwen ask you kindly make you step way back for me alright? Kindly I the ask you that please step way da back there for me way behind that blue SUV."

And from there the silly scene unfolded as policed stood in formation blocking the gate in a slightly sad attempt at appearing to have things under lockdown – when really they were jumping through hoops to just complete a simple arraignment for murder.  If they had used this kind of display of manpower and vehicular resources search William Danny Mason’s house on Intelco Hill months ago when criminal complaints against him first emerged – maybe the Pastor’s beheading may have been averted.

The acting commissioner told the media yesterday that the house posed tactical problems:…

Russell Blackett - Acting Commissioner of Police
"The premises is set in such a way that it would have been problematic for us to go in."

But it wasn’t any tactical problem for the police minister who freely visited the house:

Jules Vasquez
"But previous to that you did go to his house."

Hon. John Saldivar - National Security Minister
"Yes like I said I am not denying because at that time we knew nothing about his reputation or character."