David and Anke Doehm will appear in court on August 24, 2017, in San Pedro Magistrate court for the hearing on their charges for “Cruelty to a Child”. The entire country has been appalled by the circumstances surrounding the death of Faye Lin Cannon and by the lack of evidence from the police department to charge anyone for her death.
First on the list of murder suspects are David and Anke Doehm, Faye Lin Cannon’s adoptive parents, but police and prosecution have not been able to obtain enough strong evidence to charge them with murder.
The Doehms have been charged with “Cruelty to a Child” and will stand trial for those charges at the end of this month. Since Faye’s death, many have spoken out about witnessing some sort of cruelty by the Doehms on Faye and her three siblings.
If the Doehms are guilty of wrongdoing on Faye, the Belize court needs to know of all evidence there is of cruelty to these defenseless children. The Police Department and Justice for Faye community group are urging anybody and everybody who has witnessed any type of cruelty by the Doehms on Faye Lin Cannon to step up and make a sworn statement that will assist the prosecution in their case.
The Doehms have denied abusing Faye and her three sisters. They insist that Faye was mentally ill and intentionally hurt herself. Faye’s post-mortem results indicate the cause of death was due to chest compression, broken ribs, and a punctured heart. It also added that she was sexually abused. The Belize Police Department is working hard to gather evidence needed to have a strong case against the couple’s legal defense.
Making a statement will make the evidence against the Doehms more compelling during their court hearing. Here are some of the points for you to consider giving a statement:
1. Making a statement to the Police is to put forward first hand, eye witness, information to be used as evidence in the criminal case against Anke and David Doehm. They have been charged with Cruelty to a Child, so anything that anyone saw that seemed abusive, or neglectful, can be discussed in their statement, even if it only seemed “weird” or “mean” in the past when you saw it. In hindsight, knowing what has been reported in the media, knowing that Faye died in their care, it may now seem to them that it was far worse than they originally thought, and should be reported as evidence to the Police in a sworn statement.
2. People have questions about Dave Cannon (Faye Lin’s true adopted father); is he a good man? Is he somehow involved in this nightmare of abuse that the girls have suffered? All of the authorities are and have been investigating David Cannon since Faye’s death – the San Pedro Police, the FBI, the Human Services Dept. of Belize, the Director of Public Prosecutions Office. It is good and appropriate that they have been investigating Dave Cannon and they will not agree to him having full custody of the three surviving daughters until they are all satisfied that being in his care is the best thing for the girls.
3. Making a sworn statement to the Police is only in regards to the Criminal charges against Anke and David Doehm, it will in no way influence the custody case being brought forth by Dave Cannon.
So if you want Justice for all four Cannon girls then you need to go and make a statement about what you witnessed. Your statement can be put into evidence. Cruelty to a Child is a crime that is punishable with ten years in Hattieville Prison. If there is no overwhelming evidence in their criminal case, then it is possible that their attorney Dickie Bradley will be able to have them found not guilty of their charges.
4. Please be specific about what a sworn statement actually is. If someone spoke to a Police Officer and nothing was typed out and signed by the citizen, that is not a sworn statement. If some one was interviewed by the Police, and the Police wrote everything down in their notes, but the citizen did not sign anything, then that is not a sworn statement. It was simply an interview.
In a sworn statement, that is admissible in Court, the citizen goes to the Police Station and speaks with a Criminal Investigation Bureau Officer or a CIB Officer and answers a number of questions, or tells the officer what they witnessed. Then the officer types or hand writes, all of that information out on a form. Then the citizen is given that statement form so that they can read it and make sure it is correct. Then the citizen is asked to sign that statement in two places, at the top of the statement and at the end of the written statement, so that nothing can be changed or added to their statement.
If that happens, then the citizen has made an official, sworn, written statement that will go into evidence in the case against the Doehms.
