Email

Print

There is a disturbing case of rape to report from orange walk where 42 year old primary school teacher Juan Villatora is accused of raping a 14 year old student. He was a teacher at the Louisiana Government School. The child’s mother, in frustration, travelled to Belize City today because she complains that Orange Walk Police aren’t doing enough. It was two Wednesdays ago that her daughter went missing. She was found around midnight that same night - locked inside a store owned by the teacher. We spoke to the mother but to protect the child – we have distorted her face and will withhold her name.

Mother of Alleged Victim,
“When the police got there, they took down the door and my daughter was there naked and when they found my daughter they took her to the hospital and they notified the police that my daughter had been raped by this teacher. It is difficult because I didn’t expect a teacher would do that to my child. We send our children to learn, for the teachers to advise them. We don’t send them for the teachers to be getting involved with the students.

That day when we couldn’t find my daughter and when they found her they notified that she was raped. The Education Officer should have taken him to the police station but he took him home to escape. So they found my daughter that day and since from that day they took my daughter the other day at three o’clock to get a statement to report who is the guy’s name, how old was him, and so she can give a report. She gave a report, she didn’t want to go to school, she was afraid that she was getting teased. She is graduating on the 19th, she is not suspended from school because a lot of parents are saying she is suspended from school. She is not suspended from school.

I just want to post a picture or say a name because the police had already had a report in Orange Walk Town, the news in Orange Walk Town has a report and they haven’t done nothing. They haven’t posted a picture nor haven’t posted a name. I don’t understand why because it had been reported and it has been two weeks now. That is the reason I came all the way. I was not here but I came back and I am taking this as far as I can. I came all the way to Belize because they are not doing nothing in Orange Walk.”

The District Education Manager the mother is angry with is Daniel Luna – the acting manager for Orange Walk. We spoke to him this afternoon and he says that contrary to what the mother says – he was the one who got the police involved. In fact Luna says he personally went to look for the child the night she was reported missing. Luna says he wants Juan Villatoro caught –and charged if the allegation is indeed true.

And so too does Minister of Education Patrick Faber who says that Villatora has been terminated from his teaching position at Louisiana Government School. That is because in the two weeks since the incident allegedly occurred - he hasn’t returned to teach. But more than condemning the alleged act – the Ministry of Education is offering a reward for the whereabouts of Juan Villatoro.

Two things to note are that the mother was not in the country at the time of the incident and so her account of what Daniel Luna did or didn’t do was a second hand account. Thirdly, we stress that Juan Villatoro is only accused and prior to the mother coming to us today – police hadn’t even issued a report about the complaint.