Today, two men who kidnapped a man leaving a bank ATM were tried in the Supreme Court; their fates were decided today in the court of Justice Troadio Gonzalez, and the outcome couldn't have been any different: While one man is behind bars for the next ten years, the other walked out of court scot free.
27 year old Solomon Marin, Jr. was sentenced to 10 years for robbery and 10 years for the kidnapping of 25 year old Belmopan resident, Leon Castillo.
The incident occurred on August 26th, 2006 in Belmopan. Castillo testified that he was held up by two men, one of them armed with a sawed-off shotgun, when he went to the ATM at First Caribbean Bank and withdrew 50 dollars. Castillo said the men drove him in his vehicle just outside of Belmopan and stole his money and jewelry. They then drove him into a feeder road off the Hummingbird Highway, and tied him to a tree and left him there.
The other defendant, 23 year old Oliver Rodriguez, was acquitted of the charges after Justice Gonzalez upheld a no case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
In the case of Marin, Jr. the Justice stipulated that his sentences of 10 years each run concurrently, meaning he will only serve 10 years for both robbery and kidnapping.
