The Justice For Laddie Foundation

On the night of 14 July 2021, Laddie Gillett, a promising 14-year-old student, was enjoying a school holiday with family and friends in the Belizean seaside village of Placencia. While jogging back with a friend to his family’s vacation accommodations to comply with a village COVID curfew, Laddie was shot, without provocation or warning, in the back by a Belize police corporal on duty with a colleague.

There has never been a question of Laddie’s innocence, nor the fact that he was killed without reason or cause.

While Laddie lay dying in the sand, his teenaged companion was reportedly threatened and assaulted by the police officers. 

Whether this tragedy was an extrajudicial murder, or the result of a lack of training, experience or empathy  on the part of the police officers involved, it is striking that those officers have never shown remorse for their actions or been adequately held to account.

Laddie’s murder reverberated throughout Belize, with communities across the nation coming together to hold candlelight vigils, peaceful demonstrations, and remembrances in his honour. Young people, particularly, have been affected by this, and there is concern about how the erosion of trust and respect for authority will affect Belize’s most valuable asset – our youth.

The Justice for Laddie Foundation seeks to harness and focus that community pain to bring about change, and to support young people by reminding them that they do have a voice, and deserve respect, justice and security. By assisting boys, girls and teens to become involved in education, sports, career opportunities, community activities and other healthy pursuits, the Foundation has potential to become a valuable resource for young people in Belize.

In a very real sense, we and the Foundation’s supporters are making an investment in the future.

The Justice for Laddie Foundation has been established to support Belize’s youth. By liaising with the police, civil society, and community representatives, the Foundation seeks to re-establish trust in law enforcement, and foster a more positive, safer environment in which boys, girls, and teens can grow into confident, productive adults.

By coordinating scholarships, training, mentoring, skills development, and other avenues for personal and professional development, the Foundation seeks to awaken young people to their own possibilities and paths towards their best futures.

The Justice for Laddie Foundation has three primary aims:

• As a memorial and living legacy honouring a 14-year-old Belizean whose promising future was tragically cut short with an irresponsible, brutal murder by a serving Belize police corporal
• To seek transparency, accountability and justice as a way to help restore trust in the legal system, and to ensure that  this tragedy is never repeated, and
• To identify and support a range of initiatives and programs that educate, stimulate, and empower Belize’s boys, girls, and young adults.