Dead at Fifteen, Niccanor Fermin is the Latest Murder Victim
Niccanor Fermin
Fifteen-year-old Niccanor Fermin became the latest victim of gang violence when he was executed and dumped in an overgrown area near the entrance to Vista del Mar on Wednesday morning. Police were alerted to shots being fired in the area sometime around ten a.m. and when they responded to the scene, they discovered the lifeless body of the minor. Fermin, a resident of King’s Park in Belize City, was at home when his mother left for Belmopan. Sometime later, Debbie Swaso received a phone call informing her that her son had been killed. According to the mother of three, despite her efforts to dissuade him from hanging out, Niccanor chose not to listen.
Debbie Swaso
Debbie Swaso, Mother of Deceased
“Ih seh, “Hi Debbie, dis da Punchy.” Ah seh, “Wow, I noh hyah from you long time Punchy. Weh happen?” Ih seh, “Weh JR deh.” Ah seh, “I leff JR home.” Ah seh, “Why, weh happen? What happened?” Ih seh, “JR get killed. JR get killed da Vista del Mar.” Ih seh, “I’m going to identify the body.” So I said, “Wow.” I was shocked. I said, “I will come down right now. I’m gonna catch the bus and I’m coming down.” So ih seh, “As soon as he left from the morgue he’s gonna call me and tell me what happened you know.” He called me back and told me it’s him. So, I just, you know…”
Isani Cayetano
“Ms. Debbie, give us the history of your son. He’s dead at fifteen-years-old, very young, a life that hasn’t even experienced what it is to grow up and see the world. What happened?”
Debbie Swaso
“He was a cool guy, he doesn’t give trouble to that [extent], it’s just that he does not listen and he noh talk. Noh mind how I ask he, you know, he just serious and he doesn’t talk. He doesn’t tell me what’s happening, you know. Ih noh matta, I tell he ah wahn yoh go back da school. He noh wahn go back da school. Ih seh, he noh wahn go da school because dehn wahn cohn kill he deh. Dehn wahn cohn fi he deh. So I ask he why. Ih seh, he just tiad ah talk. He tiad, ih seh, fi he pa de da jail and ih just give up. He noh have nobody, only me.”
Isani Cayetano
“I know you’ve tried with him. Very recently you made an attempt to get him into a program where he could have gotten into something meaningful. Talk to us about that.”
Debbie Swaso
“Well, I wanted to get him in that program but with the situation that’s happening here, I said I wanted to get him out of Belize. I wanted to get him to the States but he will not get a visa if he noh go da school. So, but I mi want ih get eena di program and as ih get eena di program I would take him for a visa and I will get him out from here, but…”
