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It never made the news, but 19 year old Mahogany Heights resident Kenton Pandy was shot by a policeman on New Years Day. Early that morning, Pandy and a friend had been partying at a village bar when they got into a misunderstanding with another group. Things escalated and he left. But when he was heading back later, he was intercepted by one of the officers assigned to the area who shot him in the buttocks. Pandy told us that the police shot him for no good reason- and he was recovering when Police decided to charge him for assault.

Kenton Pandy, Shooting Victim/Charged for Assault
“We bend the curve to reach to the bar and the policemen they came towards we and then he went to the young boy first and pushed him and then after that he came to me and he pushed me with strength and asked me where I was going. Then I braced myself back and I stood up straight and he came closer to me and he fired two shots by my foot and I put up my hands and I asked what went on, everything straight with me and nothing happened. And then I went to turn around and then he shot in my cheeks and I don’t know what happened after that. I dropped, they rushed me to hospital in Belmopan and I reached there around four. They tend to me, clean up the wound, and it never stopped bleeding. It bled all through until 8 and then they called for an ambulance to bring me down to Belize and then they bring me to Belize; they tend to me.

And then a next time come, the 13th they came for me and they said I get charged for assaulting a police officer.”

Jules Vasquez,
Did you have any physical contact with the police officer? Sometimes even if you throw your hands and it hits him, that is assault as well.

Kenton Pandy,
“Nothing like that happened. The only thing I did was heist my hand to ask him what happened. That is the only thing I did, I didn’t do anything else.”

Jules Vasquez,
Did he at any point try to detain you and did you resist?

Kenton Pandy,
“No sir.”

Jules Vasquez,
So then why is it that you are charged for assault?

Kenton Pandy,
“I don’t know. I would just want them to do the right thing because he is trying to turn it around on me like I am in the wrong but he didn’t have any reason to shot me.”

Mother,
“I want them to press charges on the police and I want them to see that he pays my son’s doctor bills and everything. If he needs to take a surgery or anything, I want them to cover everything, all the expenses.”

Pandy pleaded not guilty when he appeared in court. He was jointly charged with another young man, Feliciano Cabral. That young man claims the officer clubbed him in the head with the pistol after he shot Pandy. The bullet is still lodged inside Pandy’s hip area. His mother told us that she has gone with witnesses and filed a report with the Internal Affairs Department.