8-year-old dead after falling on machete
It is one of those many parental admonitions that we all grow up with: “Don’t run with a knife in your hand.” Well, as of today Belizean children will not be so free to ignore that advice, as an eight year old boy from Carmelita Village is dead…after falling on his own machete. News 5’s Patrick Jones has the story from the Orange Walk District.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The makeshift memorial marks the spot where eight-year-old Cecilio Hernandez, seen here on the left in this picture with his younger sister, was fatally wounded on Monday afternoon.
His older brother Guillermo was a short distance away, but could only watch helplessly as the tragedy unfolded.
Guillermo Hernandez, Brother of Deceased
?He say he was going to cut cane. And when time he see me, I mi wah seh how come he the play with machete, when my pah no like make we play with machete. And when he sees me, he runs. And right there dah weh he drop when the prickle get in a his foot and he drop.?
?I see when he drop and when he give round the machete get in a his heart and after that I see blood, right.?
The fall landed the Infant Two student into the blade of the machete he was carrying, piercing his torso, under the left arm, and apparently puncturing his heart. Paralyzed with fright, Guillermo says he watched as his brother stumbled to his feet, called to his mother who was lying down in a nearby hammock, and collapsed into her arms.
As friends and family come together to comfort the grieving parents, Stanislaos Mendez, told News 5 that he had left the children with their mother in the backyard, and was talking with a visitor in the front yard, when he got the bad news.
Stanlislaus Mendez, Step Father
?My wife only tell me one piece of stick gone right there, but when they notice, dah machete.?
Patrick Jones
?What kind of machete??
Stanlislaus Mendez
?Small lee machete.?
Mendez says he had seen the machete lying around the yard, but since he and his wife have strict rules about the children playing with the sharp edged tool, he?s at a loss for an explanation as to why Cecilio had the machete in the first place.
Stanlislaus Mendez
?He must have gotten frighten when he see the lee boy, because I noh like it when they play with machete. He must have gotten frighten when the big one saw him. He must have gotten frighten when the big one tell the ma that he play with machete. That?s why when he come, he have it to the back and then he juk himself on the foot with prickle, and he must have dropped like this because he shove the machete right here so.?
As the grieving parents prepare to lay the child to rest, Mendez says he hopes that no other parent has to experience what he is going through right now. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
Eight-year-old Cecilio Hernandez will be buried on Thursday after a funeral service at his home in Carmelita.
