Samuel August Pleads Guilty to Killing His Son and Grandmother
A little over four years ago, a Belize City family was beset by tragedy when a distraught former in-law rammed a piece of heavy equipment into a home, killing a five-year-old boy, his fifty-three-year-old grandmother and a teenage minor. The frightening ordeal made headlines as the single-flat residence occupied by Louise Young and her grandchildren was torn apart while they were sleeping inside one of the bedrooms facing Faber’s Road. In the wake of the incident, Samuel August was arraigned on a number of charges, including the murder. Today, notwithstanding the collapsing of the ceiling in an adjacent court building, August pleaded guilty to killing his infant son, the child’s grandmother and badly injuring her thirteen-year-old granddaughter. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
On the morning of October 31st, 2018, Samuel August Sr. did the unthinkable. While his children and their grandmother slept inside this concrete bungalow on Faber’s Road, the former Belize City Council employee plowed through the residence with a backhoe, killing five-year-old Samir August, Louise Young and injuring a thirteen-year-old girl. In a fit of blind rage, the father of three ran the excavator into the bedroom, repeatedly.
[File: Oct. 31st, 2018]
Carolyn Welch
Carolyn Welch, Sister of Deceased
“When I got over there it was a horrible mess, so upon seeing my little cousin who had called me, she said that the boy’s father, Sam August, was the one who was responsible for what happened. She said he was in a backhoe and he drove the backhoe from the lane in front there and came and ram it straight into the house. She said, and when she heard the ram the first time, she ran out and realized that it’s my mother’s house that was hit. She came over to see what was happening and she said that he was ramming it again and shoveling up my sister off the bed and throwing her. By this time the baby had already been covered under rubbles and things like that.”
It has been a little over four years since that deadly Halloween morning and since then, the thirty-nine-year-old has faced a slew of charges in connection with the incident. Earlier today, he appeared in court, along with attorney Orson Elrington, before Justice Susan Lamb. During the proceeding, the suspect chose to enter a guilty plea.
Orson “OJ’ Elrington
Orson “OJ’ Elrington, Attorney-at-law
“For some weeks, we have been in discussions with the Crown and we previously had a sentence indication hearing which is the opportunity for the court to indicate what the sentence would be for Mr. August, if it is that he were to enter a plea of guilty. Mr. August, after having considered all the circumstances, all of the facts, all of the evidence, determined that it would be in his best interest to have an early guilty plea. And so today, he entered such a guilty plea before the court.”
The guilty plea was accepted after acknowledging the facts of the case. Sentencing for August Sr. has been reserved for a later date. He will, however, return to court on December fourteenth, for a mitigation plea where his attorney, as well as other witnesses will testify to his good character.
Orson Elrington
“That will be the opportunity for the Crown to say what are the aggravating circumstances and for the defense to offer what should be some of the mitigating circumstances to allow for him to get the least possible and the Crown would offer their aggravating circumstances why they should get the highest possible sentence at that point in time. And then thereafter, in January, the judge will deliver her decision as to his actual sentence in January 2023.”
Of note is that a psychiatric evaluation will also be conducted to determine August’s mental soundness. August is presently serving a seven-year-sentence for the theft of a motor vehicle, following an incident on November 2nd, 2018 when he stole an SUV from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital’s parking lot. He had been admitted to ward when he escaped from the facility and took off in a Chevy Equinox which he later rammed into the rear of a backhoe. Isani Cayetano for News Five.
