Mentally Ill Vendor Fatally Wounded With ‘A Piece of Cement’

Jesus Mossiah

Up north, a family in Calcutta Village is coming to terms with the sudden passing of their loved one. Fifty-two-year-old Jesus Mossiah was reportedly stoned with a piece of cement which caused him to bleed out and eventually die. It happened on Saturday night on Seventh Avenue in Corozal Town. Police say that Mossiah, a mentally challenged individual, was involved in a fight with twenty-eight-year-old Sadam Vasquez who caused the fatal wound. Vasquez was charged with manslaughter and is tonight at the Belize Central Prison after the magistrate denied him bail. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo was in Calcutta today and spoke with the family.

Hipolito Novelo, Reporting

On Saturday night, a fight between two men turned deadly. Fifty-two-year-old Jesus Mossiah, a resident of Calcutta Village, is dead and the man who police say killed him is behind bars. This morning, twenty-eight-year-old Sadam Vasquez of Corozal Town was arraigned on a single count of manslaughter and remanded to the Belize Central Prison. Vasquez and Mossiah were involved in a fight which began inside Home Best Fast Food on Seventh Avenue, and spilled into the streets where Mossiah was fatally wounded with what police say was a ‘piece of solid concrete’.

Mary Harris, Sister of Deceased

“People saying that how they had an argument in the Chinese store and according to people, he was running. This fellow followed him behind with a stone and throw the stone at him the first time but did not hit him. Then the second time and that is when the stone caught him, wounding him and he fell on the ground. To the back of the head because he was running and he did not look back. Well according to people, it was a huge stone because if it was a small stone it would not have damaged him that much. Because of the big burst, it was a big stone.”

Joseph Myvett

ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch

“Mossiah was at a business establishment on Seventh Avenue where he apparently got into an altercation with another male person and he left the area and later returned to the area. As a result upon his return, the male person then picked up a small piece of concrete which was on the street’s side and stoned it towards him which caught him on the right side of the head which resulted in his injuries.”

Mossiah was bleeding profusely. He was taken to the hospital but died while receiving treatment. Information to News Five is that the owner of the establishment told Vasquez who started working at the restaurant a month ago, to escort Mossiah out. A physical altercation then ensued.

Mary Harris

Mary Harris

“They say he went in to buy a burger in the Chinese restaurant and something it started to argument that the burger was expensive or something like that and the argument ensued.”

ACP Joseph Myvett

“As a result police carried out an investigation where four statements have since been recorded. Those statements along with the evidence was forward to the Office of Public Prosecution for her advice and since yesterday the other male person known as Sadam Vasquez, twenty eight year old of a Corozal Town address has since been arrested and charged for the crime of manslaughter.”

According to Mossiah’s sister, Mary Harris, he suffered some sort of mental illness which contributed to his defensive behavior. But even so, Harris says, her brother did not deserve to be killed.

Mary Harris

“I think he did not have to kill him. If my little brother started to argument with him in the shop, he could have called the police or the Chinese could have called the police. So I don’t see why he had to kill him. And the way we see he behave that maybe he had a mental problem because he use to come to my house and eat and drink and even me he use to curse at me in my house. It is my little brother. He has died. It hurts me but the truth is for God and I cannot lie. I don’t have anything against the boy because we weren’t there and I k now my little brother character. All I am saying is that he shouldn’t have killed him because there are other ways you can damage him. You do not have to kill him, a person. The police is there. From the time he started to argue, call the police. Or if they wanted to beat him, beat him because my little brother is not that strong. He has mouth and he likes to talk. We know him. We know he has his character. He has a strong character. We won’t say he is good because he is dead. Maybe he did argue with them because I know him but he did not deserve to be murdered.”

Vasquez along with his attorney, Ronell Gonzalez, appeared before Corozal Magistrate Lionel Olivera who denied bail, citing increased violence in the Corozal District and public outcry against the court for granting bail for similar offenses. He is scheduled to reappear in court on June twenty-fourth. Hipolito Novelo, News Five.