Two detained in city shooting death
A Belize City man is dead tonight after he was shot on Tuesday. Twenty-four year old Jason Avila, who lived on Bocotora Street, was reportedly riding a bicycle on Iguana Street towards Curassow Street just before seven on Tuesday night when two youths ran up to him from behind and shot him. The bullets penetrated Avila’s chest and left side of the neck and he died less than two hours later at the K.H.M.H. Word is that he might have named his attackers before he died. Police have since detained two suspects pending charges of murder. Although no eyewitness has yet come forth with any information, police believe the shooting was the result of an old conflict. It is the nation’s third murder of 2003.
A woman has died from injuries she suffered when she was knocked off her motorcycle in Corozal Town on Tuesday. Forty-one year old Chen Chin Ying of Santa Elena Road, Corozal was reportedly heading south on G Street around two-thirty on Tuesday afternoon when the incident occurred. According to twenty-six year old Ivan Campos, a driver for Bowen and Bowen, he was driving on Fifth Avenue when Ying suddenly drove across the intersection. Campos said he tried to brake but could not stop in time. Police have not yet filed charges against Campos. Chen died from head injuries this afternoon at the K.H.M.H.
A resident of Bella Vista Village in the Stann Creek District will spend the next year behind bars for beating up his four-year-old stepson. Forty-one year old Santos Cal pleaded guilty to the charge of grievous harm before Magistrate Harrison Hewlett this morning. Cal was arrested after neighbours called the Independence police on Tuesday night when they suspected that he was physically abusing the child. When police arrived at Cal’s house, they observed injuries to the child’s forehead, nose, cheeks, mouth, and ear. Police also noticed several scars all over the boy’s body. He has been treated for his injuries and a Social Development Officer has intervened to deal with the matter. The child’s mother, who also shares a five-day old baby with Cal, was reportedly also the subject of physical abuse.
A Belize City woman is in stable condition at the K.H.M.H. after a domestic dispute with her boyfriend got out of hand. Police report that twenty-eight year old Sheldan Middleton was at her Banak Street home around one-thirty on Tuesday afternoon when her boyfriend went to see her. An argument reportedly ensued between the two during which Middleton yelled at him to leave. Instead, her lover reportedly doused her body with a fluid from an alcohol bottle, lit a match and set her ablaze. The hair on the left side of Middleton’s head was burnt off and she also suffered burns to her upper body. Police have since forwarded the bottle to the forensics unit to confirm its contents. No charges have yet been filed against the arsonist.
A charge of harm has been levied against a bus driver of Burrell Boom Village in connection with a shooting on Sunday in Saint Matthews Village. Thirty-five year old Paul Waight was charged in connection with the shooting of twenty-two year old Roy Lee Young. Waight allegedly drew his licensed handgun and shot Young once in the left leg after Young repeatedly threw rocks at Waight’s bus and eventually broke a window, injuring a passenger inside. The incident occurred after what was supposed to be a friendly football match between villagers of Saint Matthews and Burrell Boom on Sunday.
