By Zoila Palma: The Belize Defence Force (BDF) has reportedly launched an internal investigation after a female soldier reported that she was raped by another soldier at the Fairweather Camp in Toledo between Sunday night and Monday morning.
The female soldier has since been flown to Price Barracks for counselling.
Commander Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez told 7News Belize that the alleged perpetrator who is a soldier is currently on open arrest at Fairweather camp, this means that he cannot leave the camp until further notice.
Brigadier General Velasquez says that the BDF has strengthened policies and educated soldiers about sexual assault.
“And we have educated our soldiers about sexual assault and everything and proper etiquette within the workplace. To the best of my knowledge, these incidents have reduced since that grave one that you mentioned. However, they will never go away, so we have to constantly be on the lookout and on guard.
So, these incidents, like I mentioned, they can be triggered by different things. But when large numbers of young people, soldiers, sailors, or police, I guess, work in confined spaces together, if you add other things like alcohol or whatever in there, these incidents are likely to occur. If not managed properly. And even though we have all the protocols and in place and procedures, the incidents still occur from time to time,” he added.
The post BDF soldier in open arrest at Fairweather Camp following rape allegations appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: The Belize Defence Force (BDF) has reportedly launched an internal investigation after a female soldier reported that she was raped by another soldier at the Fairweather Camp in Toledo between Sunday night and Monday morning. The female soldier has since been flown to Price Barracks for counselling. Commander Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez
The post BDF soldier in open arrest at Fairweather Camp following rape allegations appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
