BELMOPAN, Belize, May 24, CMC – A Belize City Magistrate Court has sentenced a police officer to two years in jail after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenager.
Police officer, Melvin Canul, 27, was not represented at his court hearing where he was accused of squeezing the buttocks of a 17-year-old girl in September 2023.
The teenager told the court that on September 12, she was at a police booth where she was returning a flag she had borrowed from a cadet instructor.
She said while folding the flag, a Hispanic officer whom she did not know, passed by and squeezed her on the left side of her buttocks. When she turned around, she observed that the policeman was standing behind her.
Canul was subsequently arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the charge of sexual assault and was released on BDZ$3,000 (One Belize dollar=US$0.49 cents) bail.
But when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Jayani Wegodapola, he was found guilty of the charge and sentenced to two years in prison.
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