Young murder victim is remembered

Nearly every time we report a sensational crime we note that the Belizean public can no longer be shocked by the extent of deadly violence that has come to pervade our society. But more than five years after a string of unsolved killings of young girls, it remains difficult for Belizeans not to be shocked and saddened. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods, who covered the murders when they happened, remembers one in particular.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Today, Jackie Fern Malic would be celebrating her nineteenth birthday but six years ago someone drugged, killed and mutilated the thirteen-year-old primary school student. Malic was stabbed over sixty times all over her body. The young girl?s remains were found two days after she went missing on March twentieth, 1999. Since that day, the family has remained vigilant in keeping Malic?s memory alive in the hope that her killer will one day be found and brought to justice. Eighteen-year-old Adelma Malic was one of the last persons to see her sister alive. She is still trying to cope with the tragedy and does not know if the hate and anger she feels will ever go away.

Adelma Malic, Sister
?Because she was a very important person to me, my family and mostly to her friends. She didn?t do anything to die that way. So I am just asking whoever did it just come out and say why they did that to her.?

Malic was one of five children murdered between 1998 and 2001. Although the police have stated that they have not closed the investigation, the family is disappointed with the way the cases have been handled.

Fabiana Scott, Aunt
?Oh my, they are a waste of time, trust me. They are waste of time. They don?t even worry about nobody. Those police worry only about themselves because they don?t even look at the children who were killed. I don?t think that they are interested. That is how I feel about it.?

Fabiana Scott, who has compiled an album in memory of her niece, says it?s important for her and the family not let the public forget. Scott says last year she received a disturbing phone call while she was away in the United States that has led her to believe that the killer is no longer in the country

Fabiana Scott
?Why I know that the killer is not in Belize because I got some information when I was in the states. So it was just very disturbing to me when I was over there and they called me. The person just started to tell me what went on.?

Jacqueline Woods
?And it?s information that only the family and the police would know.?

On this anniversary of her niece?s murder, Scott says it is impossible to think what the killer may be doing but she has written a poem titled ?Remember Me? especially for that person who took her loved one?s life.

Fabiana Scott
(Reads Poem) ?You think you are free, but just you wait. I get to you yet. You will hear my cry, just will haunt you from my grave. Haunt you, haunt you, haunt you murderer, coward. Remember you killed me, remember me always. Jackie Fern Malic.?

?Well what I tried to achieve, I am trying to see if we can touch that killer. Maybe by doing this he would go up to somebody and mention something or give up himself. But I know he is somewhere.?

Jacqueline Woods for News 5.

Scott says she wants the public to also remember the other children who were killed, namely Sheri lee Nicholas, Jay Blades, Erica Wills and Noemi Hernandez.