Moving on to news coming out of the Supreme Court, reports reaching 7News are that a female bar owner from Belmopan has been acquitted of the charge of human trafficking.
She's 40-year-old Arley Castro, a resident of the Las Flores area of the capital city, and she was accused of hiring a 15-year-old minor and soliciting her as a sex worker for the benefit of the bar's patrons.
Castro was tried in the Dangriga Supreme Court before Justice Antoinette Moore, and DPP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal prosecuted the case. We understand that the DPP called 7 witnesses who provided details to the effect that sometime between February 8, 2015, and March 8, 2015, Castro hired the minor to serve male patrons with drinks at her Intentalo Bar, in the Los Flores area. We informed that the victim, who is now 20-years-old, testified that her job was to serve beers and sleep with the men for money. She was allegedly supposed to charge them $150 for sexual intercourse. She was allegedly supposed to give Castro $100 for each customer, and that she was supposed to keep $50 dollars for herself.
In her defense, Castro told the court that she never hired the minor to work at her bar. She said that the minor was at her business place and that she had to call the police. She said that the minor was under-aged, drunk, and behaving disorderly. Her attorney, Leeroy Banner, also made sure to point out what the defense asserted as important inconsistencies in the story alleged by the minor.
A jury of 9 deliberated on the matter for over 2 hours, and they returned with a majority verdict that Arley Castro was not guilty.
