Cyberbullying Charges Dropped Against Belize City Mom

Tonight, a mother of five is breathing a sigh of relief after being cleared of cyberbullying charges. The case made headlines earlier this year when former Police Commissioner Chester Williams filed a report under the Cyber Crime Act. Back in March, thirty-seven-year-old Nichole Gilda McDonald was accused of using a computer system to spread a false statement, allegedly aimed at harming the Commissioner. She spent four nights in detention and even appeared in court without a lawyer. McDonald, who worked as a matron with the Youth Cadet Corps and lives on Antelope Street in Belize City, pleaded not guilty. She told the court she was simply commenting on remarks made by her party leader about Belize being a narco state, not trying to cause harm. Today, after months of uncertainty, McDonald walked free and visited our newsroom to share her reaction to the acquittal.

 

Nichole McDonald, Acquitted of Cyberbullying Charge

“It’s been a stressful process. I’ve been to court seventeen times and the defendant did not show up. I lost everything, including my savings. I should have done surgery three weeks prior to the date I got charged. I was detained five days and I was denied my medication that I was on, denied me food, and denied me water. Five days is an injustice to me now. I lost everything, including my job. I wasn’t convicted, I was just charged and I wasn’t the only one in Belize that was commenting on Shyne Barrow’s post. A lot of people were commenting and I was the only one that got singled out. It was about the killing of one of my patients that I use to take care of at the Department of Youth Services. I use to teach him how to walk, Geion Gomez who got shot up in the wheelchair. I encountered him because of my supervisor, she told me that she wanted me to help him to start to walk, but he was my director’s cousin. Now I was cleared and I now seek justice for myself because at the end of the day, my constitutional rights have been violated in all aspects.”