Albert Reid Acquitted of 2014 Murder

Albert Reid

Twenty-eight-year-old Albert Reid appeared before Supreme Court Justice Colin Williams today. He was accused of the May seventeenth, 2014 murder by stabbing of fifty-seven year old Maurice Young, also known as Tuko, of Santana Village, Belize District. Young was slashed with a knife to the neck and top of the head. His body was found two days later, in an advanced state of decomposition. Reid was arrested after his own brothers gave statements to police. The brothers each said they were directly told by Albert that he stabbed someone and shown a knife they recognized as belonging to Young, who sold fruits at the Altun Ha archaeological site. One said he even saw fresh blood on the knife. The brothers said they refused to help Albert get rid of the knife and police eventually retrieved it. But at trial, both brothers claimed they never remembered the day in question or what they said to police. The judge rejected a no-case submission from Reid’s attorney Herbert Panton, but in his ruling said that while the statements are evidence against Reid, he was not reasonably sure of how truthful the brothers were being, and whether they had an interest to serve.  As a result, he found that Reid cannot be held liable for the murder. Albert Reid made no statement in his own defense at trial and was free to go.