Last night, we told you about 27-year-old Alexander Holder, the Coye Funeral Parlour employee who broke into the business and burglarized it.
Tonight, he's behind bars after a confession earned him a little more than half the minimum sentence for his alleged crime.
And last night after Alexander's story was published there were outcries both from the public and from people who know him expressing outrage at the four-year sentence given to the man who came clean of his own volition.
And, part of that outrage is being sparked because while Alexander may be one of the best Coffin makers in the country he's also a special needs young man for whom incarceration at the Kolbe foundation may be way worse than it is for the average person.
Today we spoke to activists agitating on his behalf as well as Holder's former employer David Coye who says he's actively working to get Alexander out of Jail.
This is Alexander Holder, formerly a carpenter at Coye Funeral home.
He came to notoriety only last night after the story broke that he had burglarized his own workplace and then confessed to it, even though there was no evidence that adequately pointed to him.
And while that's not strictly the case. There is more to the story of how Holder, an honest and hard-working man, albeit a man with diverse abilities, came to commit burglary.
What is striking though is that his former employer, Funerals, From Cultural Anchor, To A Passing Event whose place of business was allegedly burglarized by him isn't pressing charges.
David Coye, Holder's Former Employer
"Originally when we found out that it was him because he came and expressed to me that, you know, it was him I told him that i couldn't understand why and because he's someone, he's a good worker, very good with his hands. He's not like he has some kind of disability mentally."
"When. the situation arose and they told me that he was going to be charged I had expressed to the police that I didn't want him to go to jail because his mom had come to talk to us as well because he had told his mom and you. know she was heartbroken because Alex was never someone to say that he would orchestrate something like this. If you listen to the statement as well where he said that all the money he had taken out he had given to a homeless man and that's, so you could see it."
Cherisse Halsall:
"It's strange, it strikes anyone as strange. What was your initial reaction first when someone comes and confesses to you about a crime that he had no need to confess, because there was no evidence."
David Coye, Holder's Former Employer
"Yeah, well I think that he had confess because the police had lifted accurate finger prints off everything that was touched and when it was his turn to be finger printed, that was when he came clean to me and Its unfortunate that we get to this stage, because I had expresed my wishes that I didnt want him to go to jail off of something like this, because this is the first time that he has ever got into any trouble or something like that and yesterday I had gotten the phone call from his mother and the sentence had already been issued and we spent the majority of the time yesterday at the court to see if something could have been done, but once the verdict was handed down the only next step was to file an appeal to the supreme court which we are doing right now because like I said he made a mistake, but right now our main priority is to get him out because he has two kids and his family he has to take care of and this isn't helping his cause."
But that cause is being taken up by the Assembly For Persons With Diverse Abilities. They say that what has happened to Holder is an injustice, one that they plan to agitate against with hopes of freeing him.
And this afternoon the Assembly's newly elected president told us that the judicial system doesn't understand people like Alexander.
Kenrick Theus, President, Belize Assembly For persons with Diverse Abilities
"If you are guilty of something that in and of itself is showing remorse. It might not be outward it might be inward where your conscience. may be lambasting you and you say I need to get this off my chest. That is remorse."
"Maybe that is the way how he would express himself because for example, i'll give you an example a child with autism doesn't express himself in the normal way that a normal child would but then again it is normal."
"So for him to go there, admit to this, this misdeed and then to get there and not show remorse, I don't know what they expect remorse to be. Maybe he wasn't crying, maybe that to them is remorse because he's going to jail now."
"People who administer justice in this country which means from the judges, down to the bar association, down to our citizens, at large somebody has. to come out and say something and do something for him I don't know if the magistrate can issue the penalty, so too he can reverse it as well and try to make an adjustment because all mitigating factors were obviously not brought out to him and if they were brought out to the magistrate and he still gave him 4 years then he's being inhumane."
"They. aren't going to segregate him and put him in a differnent spot. He will be thrown in with the rest and this is where something is wrong. The length of time that he's given and the fact that he'll be put in with the raw. criminals who have done things that are 10. time worse than that and probably gotten lesser time."
But Holder's boss hasn't given up and he says that his attorneys have already launched a Supreme court appeal.
David Coye, Holder's Former Employer
"Well, I would like to see him out as soon as possible because like I said we already working with our lawyers and an appeal has been filed, so if anyone out there in the court system or in the government who can assist to expediate this process as soon as possible to have him release, we would greatly appreciate that, because in the begining it was never about trying to see someone who I know has his set of disabilities end up in prison like that, because someone like that especially me knowing him he cant handle that."
Cherisse Halsall:
"This is the irony of the whole situation, because anyone who reads the story it starts with him requestinga raise. You say he would have gotten that raise."
David Coye, Holder's Former Employer
"Yes he had talk to me and he expressed to me that he wanted a raise. I told him that - because he is good with his hands and he was a carpenter for us and he picked up things gradually and once he picked it up, he was a good worker, si I expressed to him that its coming and we also were trying to find ways where we could incorporate him in other aspects in the business so that we could have given him the opportunity to make more money."
Cherisse Halsall:
"What did that raise got approved?"
David Coye, Holder's Former Employer
"We were planing to raise his pay the same week when the break-in happened, but when it happened and he told me, it was disheartening, because all of the workers I sit down and I talk with them, beacuse at the end of the day its like a family and I want to see everybody do better."
A release from The Belize Assembly of Persons with Diverse Abilities today called on the Judiciary, The Bar Association and all Belizean Citizens to work towards even-handed justice for Holder.
They also ask that moderation be applied when another case with similar circumstances arises. Finally, they called for, quote: "Some sort of adjustment to the sentence and for the plethora of persons working and administering justice in Belize to speak out and seek the same." End quote.
