Baby didn’t drown in bucket, mother not at fault
By any standard it was a rush to judgement. When a dead infant was found in the village of Lord’s Bank, police immediately concluded that he drowned in a bucket of water after his mother left him in the unreliable care of an eleven year old sister. Not so. Today I visited the Zelaya home and discovered that there were adults on the scene and there was no deadly bucket of water.
Members of the Zelaya family say their son, one year old William Cuellar’s death was not due to any neglect on behalf of the baby’s mother but that thirty six year old Modesta Zelaya had left her son in the care of her adult sisters-in-law who are visiting Belize from Honduras and were staying at the house.
Modesta Zelaya, Mother
“I had left a sister-in-law with the kids, no minor. A twenty-one year old with two children and the other sister is seventeen years old. Apart from them there were about six, seven more persons.”
The confusion apparently started because those adult family members, newly arrived from Honduras, were afraid to become involved with the police because of questions over their immigration status. The family also claims that contrary to police reports, baby William did not drown in a bucket of water but that he had left the front yard where the adults were and was running towards the backyard when he fell. William knocked his head on the ground and apparently choked on the food he was eating at the time and suffocated.
Modesta Zelaya
“The doctor said he did not drown and to confirm that too, I have a death certificate saying he died of asphyxia. I am sure there was no bucket because when I had left the little bit of water that was left in a bucket was thrown over one of the little girls and the water line is out for the whole day. No water was in the line.”
Cuellar, who was in the United States at the time of his son’s death, said he has also been upset by the media reports on the incident.
Arturo Cuellar, Father
“I never believed it. It is all propaganda, publicity of the news media. It is a shame to have unprofessional people doing these things and to destroy a home, a family; and my wife has a nervous break down right now. Not even the doctor thing can help her now. Even the doctor in the hospital told her that she will be arrested and he is not the policeman. She does not know what was wrong with the baby before. He just assumed that he drown out.”
Ladyville police say following their investigation it is not likely that Modesta Zelaya will be charged with negligence in the death of her son. When first questioned by police the relatives said that they had just arrived on the scene and did not know how the baby died. This afternoon Modesta Zelaya told News Five that her sisters-in-law had left the house with all their belongings. It is worth noting that while it seems clear that Mrs. Zelaya was not at fault, neither the police nor press has independently interviewed the two sisters-in-law, Thelma and Iris Valle.
