Belize City man beaten to death for theft
Belize City tallied another murder on Thursday when thirty-three year old Mark Anthony Dougal, died of injuries suffered in the wee hours of that morning. The weapon of choice was neither a gun nor a knife, as it appears that Dougal, no stranger to the law, died from a massive beating, likely at the hands of men he knew. The crime will eventually be classified as just another statistic of urban decay, but to Dougal’s parents, Mark will be remembered much differently.
Myrtle Bowen, Mother of the Deceased
“You know, I always talk to him and he would come and tell me things and so on. This time, he just come around my bed around 9:00 that night and he hugged me up, he always put his hand around my neck, but I was sleeping and he hugged me. I said, Mark you wake me up man. He said yes, mom, I love you. I tell him, I love you too. I said, but you should listen to your mommy. Where are you going now? He said I just going out with my friends and come back. I said okay Mark, but you know I don’t like you out late.”
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
An emotional Myrtle Bowen, remembering the last time she saw her son alive. Sometime after one on Thursday morning, the police found Mark Anthony “Quenchie” Dougal lying in a pool of blood at the corner of Cemetery Road and Partridge Street. He had been beaten badly and was unconscious. Dougal was rushed to the hospital, but died seven hours later at the K.H.M.H. The family says on Wednesday night, Mark left the house with some neighbourhood friends. Reports are that they went to the Miami Nites Club, but later that night they became separated.
Mrytle Bowen
“Just let me know who killed him. Why and what did he done and I will be satisfied. So I am pleading and begging everyone who see, they don’t have to call their names, just call in to the police and tell them. He was a very good son to me.”
As the family and the police try to find out who killed Dougal, John Bowen says he knows his son has been in trouble and probably gained some enemies. Bowen says on Sunday night, a man went by the house looking for his son in a threatening manner.
John Bowen, Father of the Deceased
“The last somebody come to me, they say he back weh (stole) some things from them and they were looking for him. And the guy had some fellas along with him in a van and that is the only thing we say could contribute to maybe they picked him up and did him something.”
“The whole neighbourhood know he was on the crack, and when them bwai deh pan crack you can’t control them.”
Although the police have no suspects, they are following up on some leads. According to authorities, initial investigations reveal that around 1:30 that morning as Dougal was walking on the sidewalk on Partridge Street, a white four door car drove up beside him. Four persons got out of the vehicle and beat him. If you have any information that can help solve this latest murder, you are asked to call the police. Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
Police say that at the time of Dougal’s murder he was a suspect in the robbery of a pair of outboard engines that were recently taken from his neighbourhood.
