Accused Arraigned for Jose Matus Murder

Jimmy Estuardo Rojas

Twenty-seven-year-old Belize City Council employee, Jimmy Estuardo Rojas, has been arrested and charged for the January twelfth murder of Jose Matus. As we reported, just after midday on Friday of last week, police responded to reports of shots fired on the corner of Singh Street and Rio Grande Crescent in Belize City. When they arrived on the scene they discovered Matus sitting in the driver’s seat of a GMC SUV with multiple gunshot wounds to his body. Police also observed two females with gunshot wounds. Matus was pronounced dead, while the two females were transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for treatment. A police investigation revealed that Matus visited the area to pick up the two females when two men exited a van a fired several shots in their direction. Today, Rojas appeared before the before the Belize City Magistrates Court  where he was read two charges, common assault and murder.  The common assault charge stemmed from an assault offense which allegedly occurred on July twenty-ninth, 2023. He pled not guilty to that charge. And, due to the nature of the second charge, no plea was taken. Rojas was remanded to the Belize Central Prison and is set to return to court on April nineteenth.