Farmer Chopped to Death; Family Speculates that Jealousy May be the Motive

Domingo Miguel Mathias

There was another murder, but in southern Belize. A Guatemalan national was killed on his farm sometime on Sunday. The Pomona resident was found with massive chop wounds on his corn plantation sometime after midnight. A search party went looking for Domingo Mathias after he didn’t return from the farm. His family claims that he was threatened about a month ago by a man he knew. Reporter Andrea Polanco has more in the following story.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Thirty-two-year-old Domingo Miguel Mathias was found chopped to death in his corn field in Pomona Village just after midnight on Sunday.

Angelica Chacon, Common-law Wife of Deceased [Translated]

“They said that he had an injury in his head. He also had another one to the neck – completely cut off at the neck. It also appears that one of his arms was completely chopped off and the other hand had cut wounds as well.”

The Guatemalan farmer left his home around five on Sunday morning to plant corn on a farm less than two miles from his home. He returned home around ten that morning but left again at midday to go back to the farm. His wife became concerned when he didn’t return home that evening. That is when they decided to look for him and came across the gruesome discovery.

Angelica Chacon

Angelica Chacon

“He told me that he was going to church service with me and I started to call him around six-thirty. He didn’t answer and I sent him a message asking why he wasn’t answering. The phone only rang and it went to voicemail. So, I started to worry.”

Angelica Chacon says that she doesn’t know for certain why Mathias was killed. She has ruled out robbery because his cell phone, bike and farming equipment were discovered on the scene. She alleges that her husband was threatened about a month ago due to a case of jealousy.

Angelica Chacon

“The man threatened him because he met his wife and my husband eating together. He was very angry and he got jealous and told my husband that he was courting his woman. My husband told him that nothing like that was happening. Yes, they used to exchange words. He used to tell him, I am going to kill you’ and this and that. He used to insult my husband a lot. He was always threatening him and pointing his machete at him. He also threatened my son. So, I told him not to go back and plant there because it is causing problems.”

But Chacon says her common-law didn’t take the threats seriously because just last week he forgave the man who had threatened him. He even went to so far as to give him a job to work on the farm. The grieving wife says she wants justice for her husband’s murder. Her family has been has been hit by tragedies in recent years where separate RTAs claimed the lives of her of two sons and nephews, now her partner of twelve years and father of  her two girls was killed in cold blood.

Angelica Chacon

“I would like to get some justice because I have had a lot of tragedies in my life. First, my two sons died and then recently my nephew died about four months ago. There is no justice. And now it is my husband. I would like to get some justice because that is the reason why we have the law.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.