Vandals destroy headstones and desecrate tombs

The hope is that when you bury your loved ones they get to rest in peace. But that has not been the case for at least the past week. News Five was invited to the Lord’s Ridge Cemetery to view a number of graves that have been vandalized, presumably by mischief makers prowling through the graveyard at night. Caretaker of the cemetery, Russel Neal, told us that the Belize City Council will have to find ways of dealing with the problem.

Russel Neal, Caretaker, Lord’s Ridge Cemetery
“Ever since last week I notice there’s been an increase of vandalism of tombstones, flower pots and crosses in the cemetery. Before it was only one or two but for the last week it’s been like maybe twenty or thirty. The ones I showed you it’s only in this area and the cemetery is like ten or fifteen times the area that I’ve shown you. So you can imagine the extent of the vandalism that is going on.”

“When it happens we’re not at work so it’s got to be in the night time. It has to be at night time. We’d be here from like seven in the morning to maybe five or six in the evening. At that time there’s nothing happening because we walk the cemetery on a daily basis. But when we leave who know what happens. As you can see it’s terrible.”

Marion Ali
“Have you been able to get in touch with the families of these deceased?”

Russel Neal
“It’s hard to get in touch with them unless you know them personally because the City Council does not carry their name and the address, only of the deceased. Maybe if they see this interview right now they will come and see if their grave is in tact or not.”

Marion Ali
“Can anything be done to remedy this problem?”

Russel Neal
“I don’t know but we’ll try. We have to try because it’s getting worse, not better. The armed security would make sense, it would make sense. It would definitely make sense to have armed security at night, or some kind of security.”