A Pair of Brothers is Stabbed by Mentally Ill Cousin; Minor Dies

Carlos & Isaac Marin

A Caye Caulker was stabbed to death and his brother injured in a violent stabbing incident after midnight on Monday. Police are calling the incident a stabbing death because the person who inflicted the fatal wounds has a mental health condition. It happened in the dead of night when the siblings were inside the bedroom of their Caye Caulker home. Seventeen-year-old Isaac Marin was stabbed multiple times sand perished while Carlos, his brother, was also stabbed, but survived. Jaymie Marin, who is the cousin of the siblings, was promptly detained. News Five’s Duane Moody was in Caye Caulker today and files the following report. 

Seleny Villanueva Pott, Chairperson, Caye Caulker

“A very young guy with a future ahead of him; love fishing. True essence of a caye boy.”

Duane Moody, Reporting

The Marin family of Caye Caulker is grappling with the loss of one of their loved ones earlier this morning on the island. Their grief is compounded by the fact that another of their relatives has been detained for the stabbing death of seventeen-year-old Isaac Marin; Isaac’s older brother, twenty-five year-old Carlos Marin was also stabbed multiple times, but survived the attack at the hands of their cousin, Jaymie Marin. The incident occurred just after midnight as one of the siblings was sleeping. Isaac perished shortly after at the medical centre on the island while Carlos was rushed via boat from the island and is in a stable condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

Seleny Villanueva Pott

Seleny Villanueva Pott, Chairperson, Caye Caulker

“I just wanna open with extending condolences to the Marin family and to the entire Caye Caulker community on the unfortunate incident that transpired early this morning. About 12:30, I received a call from one of the family members that were over at the community centre saying that her brothers had been stabbed. When we got at the community centre, both her brothers were indeed stabbed; unfortunately one of them had passed by then and the other one was being worked on and he was stable from last night; critical but stable. We mobilized transportation. We were trying to get some air ambulance in; unfortunately we couldn’t so we went with boat, which is always our mode of transportation out for an emergency. So we got him transferred to Karl Heusner maybe around one-thirty, two.”

Jaymie Marin

So what really transpired inside the house at the corner of Corner Luciano Reyes Street and Avenida Langosta? According to police, the deceased was asleep at his home when he was attacked by his cousin, who has been diagnosed with a mental health condition. Isaac was stabbed in the chest. His brother Carlos walked in on the attack and tried to defuse the situation, but to no avail as Jaymie was uncontrollable and also inflicted several stab wounds to him.

Seleny Villanueva Pott

“What I heard from a family member is that the younger brother was sleeping when he came under attack by his cousin, who is a mental patient. What triggered it? We don’t know. What happened? We don’t know. One of his elder brothers walked in when this was going on and in defense he tried to intervene and that’s when the altercation got even bigger and he became involved as well.”

But according to a message from a sister of the deceased to News Five’s social media page; Carlos went to get water while Isaac was asleep. On his return, he was waylaid by Jaymie who had two knives. She contends that Jamie, who is mentally ill, threatened to kill Carlos. The altercation between Carlos and Jaymie woke Isaac, who slipped on blood that was splattered on the floor. She says that Jamie then turned on Isaac and fatally stabbed him. The message ends by saying that Jaymie has been detained. Village Chairperson, Seleny Villanueva Pott confirms that the culprit was nabbed shortly after the incident occurred.

Seleny Villanueva Pott

“Yes from last night he was remanded. The police worked rather quickly on this last night.”

Isaac Marin

Duane Moody

“The culprit, from what we understand, is known to have a mental health condition. Could you talk to us about that? Is this known on the island?”

Seleny Villanueva Pott

“Yes, it is known that he is a mental patient. What we do know is that he was getting help; he was evaluated and was on treatment. I really can’t say what triggered last night or what transpired.”

This incident like several others reported in recent times, brings into sharp focus concerns as it relates to crimes, in particular killings, at the hands of mental health patients. So how does a close-knit community like Caye Caulker address such situations?

Carlos Marin

Seleny Villanueva Pott

“Whenever incidents like these transpire, it shakes the entire community. We believe that in a situation like this it is something that triggered the patient and it could have been worse and we are grateful that we didn’t lose more than one person in this unfortunate event.”

Duane Moody for News Five.