5 little girls: gone but not forgotten
Not surprisingly, we open tonight’s newscast with a story on crime. But the crime we are reporting did not occur last night or this morning. It happened in March of 1999, one of five murders of young Belize City girls, all believed to have been committed by the same person or persons. At the time, an enraged and united community vowed to catch the killers and to never forget the memory of the slaughtered children. Unfortunately, the perpetrators of what remain the most despicable crimes in Belizean history have never been brought to justice and are probably watching this newscast right now. As for the memory of the children, Belizeans have a notoriously short attention span, and the number of those keeping vigil for the victims has been reduced to a small circle of family and friends…along with News 5’s Jacqueline Woods.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
On March twentieth, it will be three years since Jackie Fern Malic was kidnapped and brutally murdered. It has not been an easy time for Jackie’s aunt, Fabiana Scott, who has had to cope with the loss of a loving niece and the knowledge that her murder, as well as the killing of four other primary school children have not been solved.
Fabiana Scott, Malic’s Aunt
“The police like they put everything in a corner. And I think like these are people’s children, these are people loved ones, so I don’t think they should put it in a corner. They should try and still investigate about this just like how they do other things.”
The police say the case file remains open, but little information been given to the family and the public about the status of the investigation. Head of C.I.B., Mario Vernon, says they cannot speak specifically about the work because it might hurt their chances of solving the crime. He did say that some leads were given to then by a group of experts from the Canadian Police Force that were sent to the country to assist in the investigation. But that news is no consolation to the Malic family, who say they are frustrated by the lack of progress.
Fabiana Scott
“They are not helping the situation. And until they find the murderer, the person that killed Jackie and the rest of kids also because we also have to think about the rest of the children too…anyhow it’s sad anyhow to talk about…What I want to say it’s sad the way how they put it in a corner.”
Two months after Jackie was buried, a monument in her memory was erected at St. Ignatius, the primary school she attended. Scott says as long as Jackie’s killer or killers remain at large, she will continue her work to see that the public does not forget what happened to Jackie Malic, Sherilee Nicholas, Erica Wills, Jay Blades, and Noemi Hernandez. Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
The body of the first victim, Sherilee Nicholas, was found on October eighth 1998, while the last, Noemi Hernandez, was discovered on February twenty-fourth, 2000.
