Still No Arrests in Murder of Joel Bishop
Police are nowhere closer to determining who was responsible for the murder of twenty-eight-year-old Joel Bishop. Bishop, a resident of Oleander Street in Belize City, was along with a group of friends on Saturday morning socializing at Pier One at the B.T.L. Park on Newtown Barracks. As the group headed home around three a.m., they were ambushed by a larger group of men, reportedly members of the Supal Street gang, and brutally beaten. Bishop was hit multiple times to the head and left for dead in the middle of the street. A vehicle, reportedly not involved in the incident, later ran over his body. Around midday on Saturday, Bishop succumbed to his injuries. The details of the event, according to police, have not been forthcoming, but here’s what eyewitness and Bishop’s aunt had to say about what transpired.
Mahalia Williams, Aunt of Joel Bishop [File: August 17th, 2015]
“The doctor di tell fi he pa that dehn di bring he out of the theatre and that he done dead; they can’t do anything for him, only his brain is functioning. So told us that we can’t really see him until eleven, when he go into the ICU; dehn wah hook up ahn and make we go see ahn again. at this time, I di meditate as to what happened because nobody knows what happened. We only hear that he gone out dah wah event out there at B.T.L. Park—he and one of wi neighbor from down the street, Austin. Ih chest mi bruk, I think ih spine…ih vital organs were all damaged, ih foot bruk and ih head. Ih get so much beating ina ih head; dehn had ih head band up though. And then the side of his face mi bruk up and then some ah ih teeth dehn come out. But during ih fight ih also see the next young man, Steeno, dehn d beat him too, but he mi di fight dehn off with some big rocks…wah other set of guys.”
Voice of: Eyewitness [File: August 17th, 2015]
“After about maybe four or five minutes of constant beating, the young man was unconscious. His male friends that were with him, they had left his side, which I don’t blame anybody because it was total chaos. The young men then moved to the gate and saw this young man in a black pickup truck and said he is from mahogany area as well. As he exited his pickup they started beating him as well. The blood stains are on the sidewalk. They beat him for about four to five minutes; constant beating.”
“Bout ten ah dehn di beat this young man to dead. But dehn lone toe tap. I say dah what is that? Ih say when dehn kick yo ina yo face with the point of dehn shoes. Ih say dah lone that dehn di give that young man. And he left ina shot. Ih say dehn beat the young man, dehn pick up ahn, ih drop. Ih say but about this time, di young man done knock out. So I say what? Ih say mami bout ten man. All ah dehn walk up cross the street, walk back, stomp up him in his chest and dehn beat him to death.”
Three other persons were along with Bishop at the time of the incident. Twenty-two-year-old Mark Benguche, who was cut to the left cheek; twenty-one-year-old Eugene Arana, who was stabbed three times to the right shoulder and twenty-eight-year-old Austin Rowland, who was cut wound to the right ear and forehead and beaten to a pulp. Benguche and Arana have since been treated and released, while Rowland remains in a stable condition at the K.H.M.H.
Why those people did this to this poor young man. He went through a sad life man he never deserved to die this way.
“VENGEANCE IS MINE” says THE LORD. And he is not sleeping.
That’s your motive.
Mar 7, 2006
Murder charges withdrawn against four defendants
The Director of Public Prosecutions has withdrawn charges of murder against four men. This afternoon Darren Banks, Joel Bishop, Joseph Bishop, and Akeem Logan-Gotoy appeared before Magistrate Sharon Fraser where they were informed of their good fortune. According to Fraser, while the murder charges have been dropped, she was not certain if the D.P.P. wanted the conspiracy and abetment to murder counts to remain. She assumed he did and granted the men bail of six thousand dollars, which they met. They are to return to court on March twentieth. The charges against the men are in connection with the September 2005 murder of Sherwin Requeña and attempted murder of Dona Magdaleno Cayetano. Those charges, along with dangerous harm, still stand against Evan Neal and Edward Lord, who were arrested along with the four. Requeña was gunned down at the corner of Zacaranda and Oleander streets as he stood talking to Cayetano, his neighbour.