An Elderly Man is Butchered to Death in Corozal; His Son and Another Are Arraigned for his Murder
Paul Castillo
A sixty-six-year-old man, who lived alone, was hacked to death in the wee hours of Saturday inside his home in Corozal Town. It was a horrible murder that started after midnight and lasted for about an hour. Noises inside his house were reported to the police, but by the time they finally got there, Paul Castillo was dead, chopped multiple times on the hands, legs, chest, head and face. Police have been able to detain two persons from Belize City; one is Castillo’s son: Norman Castillo and the other is Earl Bowden; both were arraigned this morning. Prior to his murder, Castillo had told friends that he was being monitored and that a car with Belize City license plates was seen parked in front of his house. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Earl Bowden & Norman Castillo
Duane Moody, Reporting
Cuffed together and paraded from the Corozal Police Station to the Magistrate’s Court located on the same compound, these are the men who police believe butchered sixty-six-year-old Paul Castillo inside his house overnight on Friday. The two Belize City men were detained shortly after police made the gruesome discovery off College Road in that northern municipality in the wee hours of Saturday. One of the accused men is the son of the deceased, Norman Castillo from Belama Phase Two; he along with forty-six-year-old Earl Bowden, a plumber of a Buttonwood Bay address, were arraigned just after eleven this morning for the heinous crime.
Joseph Myvett
Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch
“What the police know so far is that Castillo at the time was accompanied by two persons whom just before the police’s arrival had left the area and police during their investigation detained two persons who were later charged for the crime of murder. That being Earl Bowden, forty-six years of a Belize City address and Norman Castillo, thirty-eight years also of a Belize City address, both for the crime of murder.”
Reporter
“Sir, any relation between Norman and the victim?”
ACP Joseph Myvett
“Yes we understand that yes there is a relation between the deceased and Norman Castillo.”
Castillo was a self-employed newspaper salesman in Corozal Town. He lived a humble life and was not known to have trouble with anyone. But as he entertained his son and a friend inside his house, around midnight, there was conflict. Around 12:33 a.m., a first call was made to the police that Castillo was being beaten inside house; eight minutes later, a second call was made since police did not show up. The argument was reportedly over land documents; the deceased was heard saying he doesn’t have it. By this time, neighbours say that they could hear screaming and that’s when a third call was made to the police around one a.m.
And about 1:11 a.m., the screaming stopped, a man with dreadlocks carrying a draw-string knapsack leaves the house on Castillo’s bicycle; another guy comes out with a polo shirt and black hat and heads in the opposite direction. Police arrives around 1:15 a.m. to find a deceased Castillo with multiple chop wounds on both feet, hands, to the face and head, to the chest area and on his neck.
ACP Joseph Myvett
“Sometime after 1:30 a.m., Corozal Police responded to an information of someone shouting inside a home on Fifth Street North, Corozal Town, where upon arrival, they found one Paul Castillo, sixty-six years of the said address, apparently motionless with chop wounds to the body.”
Reporter
“Is there any…the nature of the argument?”
ACP Joseph Myvett
“At this point we do not know. We are still trying to determine an exact motive, but we know also that the building was ransacked swell.”
While police are yet to determine the motive of the callous murder, it is known that over the past two weeks there has been some strange activity, which Castillo had brought to the attention of his pastor at the Church of Christ Church, right across from where he lived. Pastor David Diego says that Castillo gave him the contact number of his sisters in the event that anything happened to him.
David Diego
Pastor David Diego, Church of Christ, Corozal
“The last time I saw him alive was around five p.m. on Friday when he was buying vegetables at the vegetable shop and we spoke there and then I went to my home and usual. I received the sad news from my sister, Yvette Swaso, who said you know what happened to Brother Paul Castillo? I said, “What happened?” She said they found him that he was chopped up, stabbed and murdered in his home.”
Duane Moody
“In that last talk with Mister Paul, did he say anything about his life being threatened or that he had any kinda trouble?”
Pastor David Diego
“Last two weeks, a person came here with a ride from Belize City, it looked like a rented vehicle and the person went there in the church and sat and talked with Breda Paul. I was in the pulpit preaching and they were having a conversation there. When we had finished the last prayer and people were going to see the visitor to shake hands, the person just sped off in his vehicle. And so Brother Cas said what kinda man is that Breda Diego. And I said what doyou mean Breda Cas. And he said that he just came and asked me a lot of questions: who am I, where I live and different thing like that. That was last two weeks. Then last week Wednesday, there was a white car in front of our church again, with Belize City license plate. And so he told me Brother David this car came from four o’clock and we normally meet from seven p.m. to eight p.m. So I tell him Brother Cas, take down the license plate and call the police. And I think he did that and the police came around, checking. And the vehicle stayed in front of the church. Since he lived right here, I told him to continue monitor and if you see anything, call the police right away. He said he saw the police coming around and around and then he went to sleep about after ten di night. And then around four o’clock in the morning, he heard a screeching noise and then he didn’t see the vehicle anymore.”
What led to the chilling murder remains under investigation, but Castillo’s son and his friend have been arraigned for the crime. They were remanded to the Central Prison in Hattieville until December twenty-third when they are to return to court. Duane Moody for News Five.
