Family Man Murdered on San Pedro; Police Lay Charge

Irvin Martinez

A father of three was fatally stabbed to death in San Pedro on Friday night. It happened while he and his common-law wife were leaving their place of work, a resort that is located on the Mahogany Bay compound. Already, police have arrested and charged eighteen-year-old David Lambey for the crime. While police say the incident was the result of a previous misunderstanding, the family is shocked. This evening, Lambey was arraigned in the San Pedro Magistrate’s Court and was remanded until February twenty-eighth of next year. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.

David Lambey

Marion Ali, Reporting
Twenty-eight-year-old Irvin Martinez had just left his bartending job at a resort that is located on the Mahogany Bay layout in San Pedro and was walking out of the compound, along with a family member, when a group of men accosted him and started a fight with him. In the process, Martinez was fatally stabbed.

Hilberto Romero

A.C.P Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division

“On Friday, the 15th day of December, 2023, around 8 p.m., police responded to the San Pedro Polyclinic where there was a report that someone had been stabbed. Upon arrival, police met one Irvin Martinez with a stab wound injury. Information is that Irvin Martinez was in an area in San Pedro when he was attacked by three male persons, one of whom inflicted a fatal stab wound injury to him. Several persons were detained as a result of the investigation conducted. David Lambey has been arrested and charged for the crime of murder. Zaphanao Mariano and Kieran Lambey have been charged for two counts of aggravated assault.”

According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero, there was a previous misunderstanding between Martinez and the men who later attacked him. A family friend, who spoke with News Five off camera, said this comes as a surprise to them because the father of three young children had no known issues with anyone.

Voice of: Family friend

Voice of: Family friend

“It was really surprising and shocking since Irvin is not the person who gets into trouble. He’s a man of his home. We usually see him when he goes to work and when he comes back from home. He was always there, you know. He wasn’t that type of a person that a troublemaker. We don’t know him as a troublemaker person. The family is really devastated. The family is really sad, his mom, his common-law wife. I know it’s something really painful. No mother [should have to] go through that, you know. Us children are the ones who should bury our parents, not our parents bury us, so it’s really, really hard for her.”

Meanwhile, for La Isla Bonita, San Pedro Mayor, Wally Nunez says the fact that this murder occurred at a resort coming on to the height of the tourism season should not bear an effect on tourist arrivals on the island or at the resort, since this was an incident of a personal nature.

Wally Nunez

Via phone: Wally Nunez, Mayor, San Pedro

“This case is more of a personal problem and not like somebody who is out there, you know, attacking or assaulting people or anything of that nature. It is something that they had a personal problem and, that’s according to what has been revealed in this investigation, and it is very unfortunate because it was at a resort, but we do understand that there was nothing in relation to the incident that had to do with the resort. No, it’s something personal.”

Marion Ali for News Five.