Woman Kills Son-in-Law in Self Defence
Arthur Wade
A sixty-two-year-old resident of Biscayne, Belize District was released this morning by the police following a bizarre case of domestic violence with a fatal outcome. Moszetta Reyes provided today vivid details of her ordeal in which acting in self-defense, she ended the life of her abusive son-in-law. The violence started on Thursday night when Arthur Wade first attacked her and ended fatally twenty four hours later on Friday night. Wade went to Reyes’ home to see his common-law wife, Alva Reyes, who was in seclusion, because of her mental condition. And when he could not see her, he launched an attack on his mother-in-law and from there the situation went downhill. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Alva Reyes, a mother of four, remains in solitary confinement at home in Biscayne Village. She has been sequestered inside this small wooden structure for the past few days, fed and cared for by members of her family. While in isolation from the general population, a lot has happened that Alva will have to come to terms with whenever her condition subsides. Mentally unstable and off her medication, she has lost someone very dear to her. On Friday night, fifty-four-year-old Arthur Wade was mortally injured at the hands of his mother-in-law.
Moszetta Reyes
Moszetta Reyes, Mother-in-law of Deceased
“About 7:30 he comes around and I heard [him] down here talking to my daughter then afterwards he came to me for the key to go in the house and I refused and I still gave him the key but after ih tell me ih cyant open di door. Ah seh well gimme back mi key. And I tek back di key from ahn and ah gaan upstairs. So afta I deh up deh he come and he tell me give ahn back di key. Ah tell ahn no because you seh yoh cyant open di door and ah noh di yoh di key again.”
Moszetta Reyes is Alva’s elderly mother. The response she gave Wade would result in a brief verbal exchange. That tiff ended with her son-in-law threatening to break down the door to Alva’s lockup.
Moszetta Reyes
“He come down and he gaan eena di kitchen fi get di axe again but I believe ih couldn’t find di axe so ih use wahn big stick weh ih mi have di door open with and then ih staat to bruk di door. Ah seh well ah wahn call di police pan you. I know dah dat ih grievance mi fa because ih neva wahn di police come to ahn. And meanwhile I di talk to di police pan di phone then he cohn wid di stick, ih seh yo di call di police, yo di call di police and I turn and same way I turn he give me wahn hurt ya.”
Reyes was badly injured during the assault. The stick that her attacker used to hit her was repeatedly struck on her left buttock, severely bruising her rump. The sudden violence continued despite Reyes being on the phone with local authorities. She hastily retreated up the stairs, her son-in-law inflicting more injuries as she backed away.
Moszetta Reyes
“When I run up the stairs he come behind me with the stick and then ih staat to whop. Ih whop down di thing up deh and ih di ketch pan di thing and ih whop, I noh know weh I mi di do but mi hand hurt, di phone drop outta mi hand. But before ih drop outta mi hand I di tell dehn, ah sehe ih di whop mi wid di stick now, yoh know and afta dat noh moh communication. So I sehe well I haftu help myself because then he still deh afta me. And I stood by the door and I mih have wahn machete by di door and I just staat to juck with di machete because then dis bwai noh wahn leff me lone. And I juck until I sih ahn di fall back way.”
In truth, Moszetta Reyes wasn’t stabbing as much as she was chopping her attacker. In a moment of blind rage, the sixty-two-year-old simply kept hacking. The injuries Wade sustained, as a matter of the elderly woman defending herself, were grave.
Juanito Cocom
Insp. Juanito Cocom, O.C., Ladyville Police
“At about 9:35 p.m., police responded to a chopping incident at Biscayne Village, Belize District. Upon arrival, police observed a brown-skinned male person with a large cut wound on the back of his neck and another cut wound to the right upper arm. He was bleeding profusely at the front steps of an upstairs plywood structure building. Fearing for her life she managed to seek refuge upstairs, however, Arthur Wade followed her with the stick. Ms. Moszetta then managed to get hold of a machete and swung it towards the accused, chopping him behind the neck. Wade was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital by BERT ambulance in a critical condition; however, at six p.m. last night, Sunday the twenty-fourth, he succumbed to his injuries.”
That information has not been formally relayed to Wade’s father. Eighty-two-year-old Ewing Wade only learned of his son’s fate by word of mouth reaching Crooked Tree Village. Despite the rumor, he attests that Arthur was a totally different person when under the influence of alcohol.
Ewing Wade
Ewing Wade, Father of Deceased
“I hyah that dehn seh ih mother-in-law chop ahn wid wahn machete. Ih chop off ih neck. Well ih neck neva really gaan but di skin hold it and ih get wahn large chop eena ih back and wah next area weh ih get chop but this thing da just yeri soh and things like that. But ah mean Arthur dead. I’m his father. Ih like to drink cause when ih drink di rum look like ih affect ih brains. Ih do stupid things, cuss people and things like that. Well I noh know if da dat dah weh really gaan on dis time right but I know ih like drink and when ih drink ih get violent ahn soh.”
Was Arthur Wade intoxicated when he accosted his own mother-in-law?
Moszetta Reyes
“Ih neva really seem to me, ih noh mi have nothing di drink. Ih noh really mi seem to me dat [ih mi di drink] but ah know ih always di drink.”
Isani Cayetano
“How are you coping in the wake of this incident? I know it’s a life taken, you’re preserving your own life. What has been going through your mind since Friday?”
Moszetta Reyes
“I was worrying about whether or not he was alive or dead meanwhile I was in Ladyville with the police and well like, okay, afta dehn tell me ih dead well ah know there were some changes where I’m concerned, ah cyant really explain di change to unnu.”
That transformation is indescribable for Reyes who survived the harrowing ordeal, her in-law who knows the family very well is grief-stricken.
Ewing Wade
“I know di girl good, I know the girl good but like she noh soh good eena ih head ih look like because ih sick but I sorry fi Arthur mein. I sorry fi ahn and wahn lotta time I cry because da mi son.”
No charges have been brought against Moszetta Reyes. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
