It was a crime that united San Pedranos against non San Pedranos and now three weeks after Fido's security guard Antonio Almendarez was robbed, beaten with a crowbar, and then tied up and killed, police have finally made arrests in his murder.
Today police formally charged 17-year-old Bernard Williams and 23 year old Luis Lalin on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit robbery. 7NEWS understands that a third man, Austin Mungelia will have his day in court tomorrow.
Williams was picked up in San Pedro on Saturday and police found Lalin at the Hattieville Prison where he is serving time for an unrelated drug trafficking charge. These arrests bring to an end a lengthy investigation which was led by the head of the CIB in Belize City Assistant Superintendent Chester Williams. He today commented on the arrests.
ASP Chester Williams, Commander C.I.B.
"We conducted an intense investigation into the matter and with the
cooperation of the community, the police officers in San Pedro, Belize City, and the Belmopan Major Crime Team, and likewise the cooperation of the DPP office we managed to solve the case and we have arrested two individuals at this time and we are expecting to file charges against another by tomorrow morning which will bring us to a total of three persons who we believe are responsible for the murdering of Mr. Almendarez."
Keith Swift,
Are these suspects from San Pedro?
ASP Chester Williams,
"One is from Punta Gorda and the other two are from Belize City."
Keith Swift,
How did they end up in San Pedro?
ASP Chester Williams,
"From our investigations we have learnt that they migrated to San Pedro couple months ago and they had been living out on the cayes.
It was indeed a very difficult investigation but with the cooperation we have with the community and the other officers involved in the investigation we never did give up. We saw the level of concern behind this case and we worked very hard on it, night and day, and finally we were able to bring the case to, I cannot say at this time a close, but we are heading to that direction."
Keith Swift,
What was the motive? Was this a robbery gone bad or was this a planned murder?
ASP Chester Williams,
"From our investigations the motive is robbery. If you look at what they are charged for, they are charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and murder. So the motive was robbery but later on it escalated to murder."
Keith Swift,
How sure are you that these are the guys?
ASP Chester Williams,
"Well from the evidence we have at hand, as I mentioned the DPP's office was involved, we believe we have a very good case that we could forth to the court that could secure a conviction."
The third suspect is expected to make his court appearance tomorrow.
