The Paslow building fire of 29th September 2002 destroyed all the Magistrate’s Court Records from that time but it did not destroy archival records of the Amandala Newspaper which in March 6th 1992, emblazoned the headline, “Teacher charged with sex crimes.” At the Guardian Newspaper we had been hearing rumors of charges that had been brought against PUP standard Bearer for Belize Rural North, Marconie Leal. We could not confirm it until this week when social media postings by PUP supporters questioned how it was that he made it past the screening process. Specifically they dug the aforementioned article in which it reported that Marconie Leal had been charged with indecent assault and carnal knowledge.
At the time there were allegations that he had fingered a 12 year old child at the Pancotto Methodist Primary School in Sandhill. The article stated that Leal was picked up at the primary school on Thursday February 27th after which he was arrested for indecent assault and the charge of carnal knowledge was added on a day later.
The entire ordeal was a widely known secret in Belize Rural North, so when on June 10th, 2018, Marconie Leal surfaced as the uncontested endorsed candidate for the PUP in that division it raised some eyebrows. Members of the community questioned how it was that a man with such an accusation against him could ever think about contesting the seat. What I worse is that attacks began to be hurled against Leal from within his party and there were questions as to how it was that Johnny Briceno, as the party leader could not have known about Leal’s past. If he did, it is thought that he simply turned a blind eye.
