Convicted murderer Shawn Hertular, who is currently serving a 20-year jail sentence, was back before a judge today. This afternoon the 24 year old was arraigned in Magistrate's Court for the attempted murder, dangerous harm, and use of deadly means of harm on fellow inmate Richard White. Hertular allegedly stabbed his cellmate in March. His family claims that after the stabbing, Hertular was put in the isolation unit, known as the "isolar," cut off from the outside world, and then tortured. His sister Jacqueline Henry told Keith Swift that now, her brother, already a convicted murderer, is being pushed over the edge.
Jacqueline Henry, Hertular's Brother
"They claim he stab this person at jail. If you stab somebody at jail, I think you should get charge right away. They wait for three months because my mom went to Krem to go report the incident why they got her son in ant's nest."
Keith Swift,
What you mean ant's nest?
Jacqueline Henry,
"Well they put him in an 'iceholder' to sleep on the bare ground in ants and they gun butt him, they beat him up, shave his head and I don't think that is right. He wrote me a note right here and told me. I don't think that is right. He says he is fed up and if we don't look into it, he will do something and then what happens, happens. And that is what they want, they want him dead. They haven't allowed him any visit, no phone call, nothing, and if we don't look into it nobody will do it for him. We went to court today and all his skin have ants bite and that is not right. He is begging for help."
Shawn Hertular was convicted of the 2001 murder of Denver Westby at the Agriculture Show in Belmopan. Hertular was also a cellmate of Mark "T-dog" Stuart who was shot over 30 times inside his cell at the Belize Central Prison.
