Who Left Baby Boy to Die on East Canal?
Before nine o’clock this morning, the lifeless body of a baby was found by a sanitation worker at East Canal in Belize City. The full-term baby boy, with his umbilical cord, was stuffed in a black plastic bag and dumped in the dirty water from where it was retrieved by the worker who says he acted instinctively to open the bag as he cleared the garbage. After the discovery, the body was transported to the K.H.M.H. morgue. There are many questions yet to be answered, but police are investigating the case to find out who committed the terrible crime. We warn viewers that some of the images may be graphic. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Collecting litter from the opaque waters of East Canal is a daily routine for Julian Jimenez, a sanitation worker with the Belize City Council. Each morning he walks this stretch, pushing his wheelbarrow and raking up scattered trash from the street side, as well as the adjacent waterway. Today was no different. Jimenez showed up to his assigned location and commenced his usual pattern of activity. He worked diligently, making his way down the lane, until he got here at the eastern corner of South Street.
Julian Jimenez
Julian Jimenez, Sanitation Worker
“Something weh I usually do every morning, clean out di kenel and thing, yoh know. Whateva deh fi tek out I tek out. Ah sih wahn dog, I tek it out. Ah sih wahn bag di cohn and ah seh hmm, mek ah sih, ih got wahn lee wait pan ahn. Ah get di big rake and a haul it out, because ah got di big rake fi haul out heavy thing right, and ah put ahn right dah side deh. Something [tell me] look eena di bag and sih da what.”
Jimenez gave in to his curiosity and opened the bag. The garbage man, however, was not prepared mentally for what he would discover inside the discarded black plastic bag.
Julian Jimenez
“A baby. Ah seh, “What, dah noh dog this!”
Indeed, what Jimenez happened upon was the lifeless body of a baby, cast-off in the most cruel manner imaginable. Unlike the biblical story of Moses who, as a newborn, was left in a basket in the bulrushes of the Nile, this male form, no confirmation whether he was dead before being thrown away, was bagged and left to float downstream.
Isani Cayetano
“Describe to me what you saw when you opened the bag and discovered that it was a newborn. Describe exactly what you saw.”
Julian Jimenez
“I look pan it good. Ah seh hmm, mek I look pan this good. I look pan everything, ah sih ih head, ih foot, this da wahn fetus right ya soh. Da di first time ah sih one a then deh right. First, first time ah find one ah dehn deh eena kenel.”
Wasting no time, Jimenez summoned a team of officers on mobile patrol along the canal side. When they observed what the sanitation worker had found, they immediately cordoned the scene and called for support. Assistant Superintendent of Police Ernel Dominguez responded to the call.
Ernel Dominguez
ASP Ernel Dominguez, Deputy O.C., Precinct One
“Briefly what I will say is that sometime earlier this morning someone came across what appears to be a fetus inside a bag inside the canal. I must say that we were not able to further give any explanation or details on that, but the remains have been transported to the morgue and I guess they will conduct whatever process they need to conduct to verify exactly what’s the status on that.”
Isani Cayetano
“Have you received any reports from neighbors in the area, insofar as when this fetus may have been deposited into the canal?”
Ernel Dominguez
Ernel Dominguez
“I couldn’t have recalled of any such [report] but we will look into it. We have ways and means that we should be able to come up with something if it is in fact a person responsible from the immediate area.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
