1 Child Dead, 2 Siblings Critical at K.H.M.H. After Stepfather Bludgeons Them
Mark Tuyul Jr.
On Friday night, a young mother came home to find her three-year-old son dead inside their house on Lovely Lane, the heart of Jungle, which is the Pickstock hutment in Belize City. His two siblings, were badly injured, they had been brutally beaten and sexually abused. Zema Castillo rushed the child to the K.H.M.H., but he had perished. The two-year-old is being released to the care of his grandmother while the oldest clings to life. The heartbreaking story is one of domestic violence. The alleged perpetrator is the boyfriend of the mother; he is now in custody after a police manhunt led them to Isabella Bank. Tonight, we have extensive coverage of this horrible incident. Here is News Five’s Isani Cayetano.
Kenrick Longsworth
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
An intense manhunt for a male suspect, wanted by law enforcement for his purported role in a most brutal and heart wrenching incident involving three children, concluded this afternoon with the capture of Kenrick Longsworth. The systematic and coordinated search led by a detail of officers began earlier today when they descended on this Lovely Lane address. It succeeded a 911 call from a resident of the Pickstock Hutment.
Pickstock Resident
“I called in the 911 center and I told them that I had information and the information was facts, because it’s not like I’m telling them lies because I want the ten thousand dollars. I don’t even want the ten thousand dollars… I am scared to even come outside because I don’t know this man’s mentality or what he’s going to go and do next. So I called them and I told them he was in the abandoned orange house across from Jungle.”
It is here, just overlooking the street from where Longsworth was last seen, that Zemark Tuyul, Mark Tuyul Jr., and two-year-old Markeem Tuyul were discovered on Friday evening, bloody after being badly beaten and bludgeoned, allegedly at the hands of their stepfather.
Anne Carcamo
Anne Carcamo, Grandmother of Abused Children
“My daughta di come een through di door and ih get wahn call. She di come een from work, she get wahn call and I just hyah she mek da surprise and seh “Ahn! Markie dead!” Dehn I spin round, I sihdown right deh eena da chair deh and I spin round and I seh, “Weh you seh? Markie dead?” And then she tell me yes, ih seh ih get wahn news or wahn call that di common-law supposed to kill di lee bwai.”
Three-year-old Mark was found inside this squalid home, he had been clubbed to death. His siblings were, themselves, suffering from various degrees of injuries inflicted during the deadly rampage. Anne Carcamo recalls receiving word of the harrowing ordeal.
Anne Carcamo
“Then we start to di get message that ih beat up all three ah dehn with wahn piece ah stick and wahn hammer. Well we rush gaan da hospital. When we rush gaan da hospital, only one mi di deh and da di one weh dead. Ah gaan eena di room, di docta dehn mek ah sih ahn everything and afta that I cyant even tell you what happened because afta dat I drop and soh I get up, I drop again and so dehn had to pick me up and tek me outta di room.”
The children’s biological father, Mark Tuyul Sr., is beside himself with grief. Despite no longer being with the mother of the little boys, he has tried on previous occasions to take custody of them.
Mark Tuyul Sr.
Mark Tuyul Sr., Father of Abused Children
“I feel hurt inside big man, dehn tek weh my Jun Jun from me mein. Drastic, ih drastic fi me right now. I di try hold up but ah noh got strength fi hold up right now. Ah terrified, ah terrified. Ah just pray, ah just hope that dehn find this young man ya and put he to justice because mein, ih noh right di way how I see it. Dis man torture my baby, beat my baby to death, rape my baby. How you think I feel inside? I just need help. I need help, I need help. I need somebody fi talk to me. I cyant do it alone. I cyant do it.”
It’s a feeling that is extremely difficult to describe, even for this inconsolable father. A parent abusing a child physically, emotionally and sexually is unfathomable and words can hardly explain Tuyul’s anguish.
Mark Tuyul Sr.
“I noh have no feeling. Everything inside ah me empty, empty, empty. I noh have nothing.”
Isani Cayetano
“Where do you go from here? What happens next because I know this is a huge loss for you as a parent. This is perhaps the worst kind of tragedy that anyone could face. How do you pick up the pieces and move on knowing that you’ve lost one of your three kids?”
Mark Tuyul Jr.
Mark Tuyul Sr.
“Ih hard, ih hard, ih hard, ih hard. Mein di only think I lose and da my Jun Jun. He know why he kill my Jun Jun, because he got my full details and that da why he kill ahn, because he know he da Mark Francisco Tuyul Junior. He tek weh my baby from me, ih torture my baby before ih kill ahn. Ih rape ahn, all ah dat I cyant stand that. Dat wahn forever deh eena my head and that wahn tek ova my whole system directly and I wahn get crazy and I wahn lose my whole life directly.”
The grandmother continues her account of what she saw inside the trauma room at the K.H.M.H.
Anne Carcamo
“Di lee bwai properly beat up. There is not a space pan di child that you could sih weh noh got wahn hit mark, right. And then ih so sad fu we because dehn actually tell we that di child sexually abused. That again gaan through me that I just cyant tek it. Up to now I still cyant tek it.”
Isani Cayetano
“Explain to me the relationship that your daughter had with the stepfather, with these three kids’ step dad. What was that relationship like that would have perhaps led to such an incident?”
Kenrick Longsworth
Anne Carcamo
“Okay. I noh know really no kinda relationship, how dehn relationship mi di go, right. But then da just, people tell we that ih eena wahn abusive home. When she cohn ya, I tell ahn bout it. She cut we offa Facebook, ih cut we offa phone. We cyant communicate noh moh. I neva even know weh paat she mi deh when dis happen ‘til when dehn tell we Lovely Lane, yoh undastand. So we neva had no good communication. And I could recall eena Christmas when di baby cohn ya, di biggest one had wahn big bite eena ih back. I ask ahn who bite ahn. Ih seh, “Kenrick bite me eena mi back and ih whap me up wid wahn piece ah stick.”
In February 2019, Kenrick Longsworth was committed to stand trial for the attempted murder of Kadeem Myers, following a shooting incident on March sixth, 2018, the night before the last municipal elections. His stepchildren, Zemark and Markeem Tuyul, remain hospitalized in critical condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
