Earlier this week we shared with you the disturbing news of a prominent pastor being charged for serious sex crimes.
65 year old Victor Wagner Hernandez of the Toledo Outreach Christian Center and the president of the National Evangelical Association of Belize was charged for rape and sexual assault upon a 35 year old woman.
Now, while those flat details give the gist of the story, taking down a big name pastor in a small community is exceedingly difficult - and for the victim to come forward, it requires great courage.
Yesterday the commissioner told us they even had difficulty in charging Hernandez - though the complaint was made some time ago. He explained why.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"From what I was told by the acting OC Of the Toledo Police formation is that this report was made to the police some time ago but there was no cooperation or minimal cooperation coming from the complainant due to fear from threats she had received. Eventually she came forward and gave a full account of what may have transpired and so the police sent the matter to the DPP representative in the south for advice and having reviewed the file, reviewed the evidence on the file, he advised the police to proceed with the charges against the pastor and the police acted accordingly. That matter is now before the court and I leave it at that."
"It is extremely sad because those of us who are in public who have authority and are in public life where people depend on us and people rely on us, people trust us. When we breach the trust of the people that trusted us then that is something that we have to be concerned about. A pastor is someone of eminence in society and when a pastor is accused of rape it is certainly a cause for concern not just for that community but for the whole country and when I listen to the comments on social media and even on the live media I think that the concerns of people are legitimate."
And though bail is usually denied for this offense - due to his age - Hernandez was granted bail of $10,000.
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