Fire destroys murder victim’s home
Eyannie Nunez was killed exactly one month ago. She is the innocent eight-old girl that was murdered as she slept at her house when gunmen opened fire indiscriminately and took her life. The murder of the All Saints school girl sent shock waves throughout the community to the harsh reality of the level of crime and violence in the streets. Pained and traumatized by Eyannie’s death, the family moved temporarily from their Zericote Street house and just after midnight, the house went up in flames. News Five’s Isani Cayetano has been following the latest tragedy to strike Eyannie’s family.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
It’s been a month since eight year old Eyannie Nunez was gunned down in a barrage of bullets as she slumbered with her three siblings in the early hours of Sunday, September twelfth. Her mother, Francine Pitts, is still looking for closure in the senseless murder of her daughter. Even as she grieves she finds herself and her remaining children homeless following an overnight inferno that gutted the family residence on Zericote Street.
Francine Pitts, Fire Victim
francine pitts
“My sister called me from Chicago, noh, she said sis I heard your house is on fire and I screamed and hollered ‘no’ and she said ‘yes’, she said your house is on fire so I just dropped the phone and then when I dropped that apparently she mussi get off the phone then my cousin called me and ih said cuz your house is on fire a say “you di joke, fi real?” Ih say yes, then the police call me and dehn say is this Ms. Francine and I said yes it is ih say well we need to know your location because your home is on fire so that’s when I learned it was for real.”
It is a promise that enemies of her family have made good on. Pitts, in a previous interview, told News Five that she had received word that her house would be reduced to rubble.
Francine Pitts (File September 14th, 2010)
“They sent a threat that they were going to burn out the house. When they came I sent message to the same person that bring the message to me, not to me actually, to my cousin that live upstairs and I told them, told him to tell them that I have nothing to do with what they’re talking about, that my brother no longer live here.”
While it is believed that the property which housed two wooden structures was deliberately torched National Fire Service personnel say they are investigating the cause of the early morning blaze.
kenneth mortis
Kenneth Mortis, Training Officer, National Fire Service
“From the Fire Department’s standpoint we have our men out there trying to see if we can come up with any type of accelerant that was used to set this building ablaze. We don’t want to lean solely on speculation. It’s a very tickly situation we are dealing with. We have to look at it carefully. The hours of the morning and especially the fact that nobody was at home we know that no cooking was being done.”
Both houses had been vacant since the fatal shooting and according to Pitts she was in the process of renovating her bullet riddled home when the second wave of tragedy struck.
Francine Pitts
“I was trying to restore the house by buying lumber, doors, windows and I put them all inside noh. All that have gone out of my personal money that I have saved which I would have done in December but due to that [shooting incident] I was trying to make a comeback, pick up the pieces. Now it’s all gone.”
There are many theories surrounding this apparent arson. One is that several suspects have been rounded up in the case of a home invasion which occurred at the home of Pitts’ next door relative. It is believed that the fire was retribution for the arrests made. Another is that the gunmen who are after Pitts’ younger brother, Herman Garbutt, are sending a clear message to him.
Kenneth Mortis
“They suffered massive loss in terms of dollar value and personal contents. What we have also concluded is that neither of the two buildings had any utilities attached to any of them. As recent as last week Thursday electricity was disconnected from the premises.”
It is a cold and callous hate crime, one that has compounded Pitts’ losses from the most personal and emotional to that of her physical properties.
Francine Pitts
“I take this as Job when Job went through his trials and lost everything. I will restore by the grace of God I will make a comeback noh. I am very strong. They took memories from me, they took a life from me but they can’t get my soul and they won’t get my sanity.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
Police are investigating the fire along with the National Fire Service.
Stay strong Francine & don’t let them break you, your children need you.
How many more threats have to be made & carried out before something is done to protect not just this family but witnesses & others who are being brutalized by these beasts?. And do we now have to protect the people these fools have the gall to deliver their threats to without fear of prosecution & conviction?.
Come on now this lady got threats which mens that she knows the individual or individuals that are jeoperdizing her safety.As a result she needs to file a complain and give the Police Department the name of the person that sent the threats.Who knows what these idiots are going to do next.
Mein this lady has been through a lot especially within the last month, and now for this to happen to her, its just really sad.
What a devastating chain of events. As a country we need to stop giving these criminal too much publicity; instead engage in serious investigation and deal with them severely. A question to the Government, is our public officers being trained to address what is an increase in criminal activities? Is the message sent to crinimals and the public at large that it is ok to determine your choice and method of justice?
Francine you’ve certainly been through a lot and sadly you seems to be trying to manage it alone. I don’t want to be too critical about someone who has lost her child because I don’t know what that feels like. What I will say is that you somehow keep receiving threatening messages and don’t act on them until the damage is done. What is preventing you, no want can help you until you ask for help. Eventually it may mean that you and your brother have to part company and both go into some sort of witness protection in different parts of the world and bring justice for your daughter. Frankly I think your brother brought this problem to you and from the reports so far doesn’t seem too keen to speak to the police, why?
It seems your brother was involved in things which has brought a lot of misery to you and your family. Francine don’t be afraid to speak out even if it means your brother spend some time in prison and sometime that the best place for him because it will be safer than the streets, as he can only run so far. The people after you will not stop so its time for you to fight back, even from afar and tell everything you know. The whole country is behind you so don’t be afraid, do it for your beautiful daughter.
The evilness in Belize has really reached a peak! What can these scum bags expect to gain by burning down this family’s home? Have they not committed enough evil by murdering an innocent child? If a serious crack down on crime is not done, we may well be looking at Belize becoming a scale down version of Mexico and its ongoing drug war (in terms of the horrific crimes committed).
In all of this sorrow and pain, Ms. Pitts however has shown a marvelous composure. I admire her for that. She is definitely hurting but depicts someone that can and will rise above all that has been taken from her. She is not your typical Belizean who gets on the radio or television demanding assistance from the public or the government. No! She has categorically stated that she will persevere and for that she has my utmost admiration and respect. And because of her positive attitude and strength, we should be there for her and her family and assist in anyway possible – cash donations, building materials; heck! can’t the government give her a plot of land outside of Belize City for her to start a new life?! This is the least they can do based on their extremely poor performance in maintaining law and order in this rapidly deteriorating society of ours.
Well, well, well !!!!!! this is getting out of hand. I am in Chicago, when I read the news tears came to my eyes. Francine my prayer is that God who watches and knows everything, would give you the strength to cope with your your circumstances. like as with Job, look forward, don’t give up and receive your miracle from God. I have to think that the government has no concern about the people of Belize, nor about crime and violence. but I wonder what they will do when it comes home to them. because it can. the bible tells us that where discipline is withhold crime will increase. I am appealing to the government again, wake up before its too late. your weren’t put there to help yourself and your relatives . remember the same vote that put your there can move you. have some compassion prime minister, cabinet, senate, councilors. and whoever in power to make changes. you have the power. when the fake storm was coming there were meetings all over Belize, lets call some meetings and give us some kind of plan cause the ones you have are not working, CHANGE THEM !.
YOU KNOW WHO KILLED YOUR DAUGHTER. YOU ALSO KNOW WHO BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE. NEXT THEY WILL BE LOOKING FOR YOU AND THE REST OF YOUR FAMILY.
GO AND ORGANIZE YOUR FAMILY TOGETHER AND THEN EVERYONE SHOULD GO AND DEAL WITH THE TERRORIST. CATCH THEM AND BURN THEM. SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY.
PEACE
the police don’t take treats seriosly … the police, the la , i dont know what it is is so not helpful …mein so sad
DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEM
DO NOT SHOW FEAR
DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORIST
FLIP THE SCRIPT
HUNT THEM DOWN
CHOP THEM UP AND BURN THEM
PEACE
my fellow belizeans this gov cannot protect you plain and simple so if you dont start taking things into your own hands their is no hope so we have to come together and find all these people and hang them tha bridgefoot one by one if they tha murderers mark m pan they farid if they that thief mark t pan they farid rapist wa r and so on and so on we must do this ourselves you cant count pa this useless gov and pm.
How much can one person take??? My Prayers are with u and ur family…..If this was me I’m not sure if I would be composed as u r….u’re a strong person and don’t let them bring u down….also if u know who is doing this to ur family, u need to take action by reporting to the police…be safe!!
damn!! for how long barrow and the minister of defence will sit their candy @$$ and watch the crime we endure everyday to decide to do something. all that money spend in luxury ( hope i spelled it right )use it for the police dep. to enhace techology, training and to bring a witness protection program available to those that require them. Haven’t they any idea whats to live a low life like our sister being threaten and still don’t bother to find a solution to this issues of crimes. since they live with protection and elite life they don’t give a $h!t about us. this lady is in peril of lossing her life after this arson. what if she’s killed later which I pray the almighty God to protect her since you idiots seems to neglect the belizean low life people like us in our basic needs of a community of safetiness. damn!!
The men who uses tigers and lions in circus, does so because they get those animals to become afraid of them as a result of daily conditioning that impose there way on those animals through fear. By sending treat to impose fear these thugs are getting their way with society. Some time in life fire has to fought with fire; which mean, since this lady know who this person is perhaps she need to find a way how to get this person retire so she dosen’t have to keep looking over her shoulders. As the saying goes, self preservation is the first law of nature. As it is she can’t win for losing. If she go, or don’t go to the police she is in trouble.
MY HEART GOES OUT TO HER AND HER FAMILY… BUT HER BROTHER IS THE CAUSE OF EVERYTHING. HE NEEDS TO FIX THIS PROBLEM HE STARTED.
Francine it is time to speak out and stop protecting your brother. I don’t understand why he hasn’t gone to the police, you said someone threatened him before your daughter died, and now someone threatened you? Clearly someone saw who has brought the threats each time so please contact the police with a full description of this person(s). First it was your child, now your home, what’s next? Yet you do nothing? Come on, there is only so much you can take. Your remaining children must be so traumatised by all these events. They too have feelings and deserve to mourn and live in a peaceful environment. If you and your children won’t be allowed to mourn, won’t be allowed to have a home, and the police department cannot find the person who pulled the trigger then pursuing your own vendetta would arguably be reasonable. Its is time for you to fight back.
Francine, With the grace of God you will get stronger and get over this, this is the evilness at work. Exactly like JOB. The evil ones still no get nothing out of this except more on their wrap sheet.
JOB didn’t cause the calamity on himself the DEVIL did it hoping JOB would curse GOD….. Ms. if u know who is doing this to ur family speakup……… and where is your brother how come we haven’t heard anything from him.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared GOD and hated evil………
“They took memories from me, they took a life from me but they can’t get my soul and they won’t get my sanity.”
Well said Francene! Dont let these animals take away your sanity nor your soul! They will get theirs, don’t ever believe otherwise. God is watching!
For those of you who still have a lot of faith in our Justice System, do you know why the conviction rate stands at 7% in Belize? Contrary to popular belief it’s not only because of the incompetent cops and the useless DPP, Blanker Taitt Vidal. It’s also because without eyewitness, or crimes that are literally “caught on camera”, the Police and the DPP will almost never get a conviction. Eyewitnesses are being threatened, harassed, shot at and murdered in Belize and nothing happens.
What will you do if u witnessed who killed an 8 yr old child, or any murder for that matter? I will tell you: At best, you will leave an anonymous tip at 911 or 922 and when the case comes up, any mediocre lawyer will get that case thrown out.
Don’t criticize this lady as she has lost her baby in the most horrific way: A MOTHER’S WORST NIGHTMARE. She tried to rebuild and lost all her valuables, memories, photos of her child. Every Christmas or mother’s day card her child ever made for her at school was probably gone in that fire.
From my understanding, she has cooperated with the Police but THEY NEED EYEWITNESSES TO COME FORWARD. Who will risk their life and their families’ to help out in this case? She did, and now her house was set on fire!