Initially, 14 women from Fox's, Long-Island, Dream Like City and Eruption Ladyville were held.

Yesterday, 7 of them went to court.

While authorities could not prove to the court that the women were working at the bar, the women were charged with the offense of deemed a prohibited immigrant after being unable to produce a valid visitor's permit, or, for failure to comply with the conditions of a visitor's permit whilst in Belize.

The women - 3 of them were barefooted in court - came from either neighboring Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador and they also had many different stories that either helped them in court or ended in them being sent back home. At least three of them had to pay a $1,000 fine or serve a prison term of 3 months.

One of the accused was a 23-year-old Guatemalan mother of 2 children, Ellie Rosiolio Quintanilla. She was charged with the offense of deemed a prohibited immigrant after she was found at the Eruption Bar and failed to present a valid visitor's permit.

She told the court that she just entered Belize on Wednesday, April 5, 2018 from Guatemala and that she fled her native country because of domestic abuse by the father of her children. She pleaded guilty to the offense and with tears running down her cheeks, she told the court of the fear of being hurt any more by the children father. She was also fine $1,000 plus a $5.00 cost of court fine and order to pay the fine forthwith in in default, 3 months' imprisonment.