Unreported Rape Case Revealed During House Debate on National Security

A woman was reportedly raped in the Collet Division last week in Belize City.  It’s not a case we have reported on nor that the Police have divulged to the media.  As a matter of fact, the revelation of the incident came about this evening during the House Meeting when the National Security Bill was being debated.  Collet’s Area Representative, Patrick Faber, highlighted the incident in his presentation on crime and safety.  Interestingly, the senior politician not only made it a point to say that he too fears the repercussions of reporting crime, but that neither the Briceno Administration nor the previous under Dean Barrow has provided the citizen security that is craved in Belize.

Patrick Faber, Area Representative, Collet: “I’ve always been amazed by the Ministers of National Security or the ministers with responsibility for the police under even the UDP administration. I think it is an absolutely dumb thing to say that, “oh when the UDP was in crime was here, here and here and when the PUP is in murders are here …..” boss on the street, on the street, on the street and in the minds of people there is a major concern about security. So you and your commissioner could come with all the fancy talk of statistics, this down  that is down, even when the UDP was in I felt the same way. Nobody wants to hear that. People want to know that there is safety, so your justification, you’re okay today, is that “well it’s not as bad as when the UDP was in.”  A resident of my constituency got raped right in front of my office in the wee hours of the morning last week. The police camera is right up there. So when you talk about technology and using technology, then they don’t come to me directly but the family came if I could lend them, if I could give them the footage from my office. No sir, because I’m not getting any quarrel with the people in that area about snitching. You have a camera right up there, but you can say what you want.  I have to live there and I go there every day. My camera and this is how the rank and file people of the country feel. You can say what you want. The people of this country feel that way. They don’t feel safe. If you go to testify, you’re a witness, they will come for you next. We see it happen over and over and over again. So sir, your statistics does not give us any comfort. No comfort and the Leader of the Opposition is right when it is…. you promise DNA and all that and both administrations you need to get serious. I’ve been hearing about DNA from God made morning. So if you’re all you’re doing today all you’re doing today with this bill is to finalize something that already exists that’s what you’re saying well the truth is that this has already failed because this is in effect, and this is how one of the big strong measures that you’re going to put in place in order to make citizens feel more secure then it’s a waste of time. But my personal view is that if it is allowed to function in a manner that is proper and when I say that I’m telling you I have grave concerns about some of the powers that are in this bill and I’ll get into that in a minute but if the council operates in the manner in which it should operate then it is a good thing. The council being fully functional, fully transparent, being fully accountable is a good thing. But I really really wish that you would take some ownership. I have never heard you say as the Minister of Police, never I have never heard you say bwai we have a serious problem here, how will we deal with this, consult with the stakeholders and so on. All you do is beat your chest and talk about how good a job you do and your commissioner does and that doesn’t play any role with the people of this country because they do not, we do not feel safe sir and it is your responsibility. You got up in this house, you got out there on the media and told everybody “it’s simple. It’s easy to solve the problem.” You remember ? You did that. You did that, the record will show that you did that.”