Bert Vasquez convicted of sexual assault, still faces trial for murder

Published by BBN Staff at July 12, 2017

Posted: Wednesday, July 12, 2017. 2:37 pm CST.

By BBN Staff: Bert Vasquez, 33, the man accused of murdering 13-year-old Jasmine Lowe in 2012, has been found guilty by the Supreme Court of forcible abduction and aggravated sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl.

On Monday it took the jury of seven men and two women, 2 hours to come to a unanimous guilty verdict for the May 2011 incident.

The girl, now 22, in court recounted the horrific ordeal. She testified that Vasquez approached her and put a gun to her back near Pound Yard Bridge in Belize City, telling her to get into the vehicle or he would shoot her, which she did. He then drove up the northern highway where he sexually assaulted her and tried to have sex with her.

She said she told Vasquez she was HIV positive in an attempt to dissuade him from continuing but he hit her several times to the face and head then forced her to perform oral sex on him. Afterwards he let her go, telling her to run so she did. She ran to the nearest house where the resident saw the girl battered with her clothes ripped and torn apart. That resident also provided key testimony which helped seal Vasquez’s conviction.

Vasquez will appear in court next Friday for sentencing after submissions from his attorney Oscar Selgado. Vasquez, meanwhile, is also pending trial for the 2012 Jasmine Lowe murder.

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