Disheartening murder statistics as 2010 comes to an end
There were one hundred and three murders in 2008 and the country cried out against the spike in violence. Well this year the criminals outdid themselves and that record was long surpassed. With one day to go in 2010, there are one hundred and thirty murders on record. As always, the majority of the carnage was in the old capital. A breakdown of the crimes shows that there were eighty-four homicides in the Belize District, twenty in Cayo, thirteen in Orange Walk, twelve in Stann Creek, three in Corozal and one in Toledo. The homicides got more gruesome and shocking. Fifteen minors and seven senior citizens fell victims to the mayhem. While no life is worth more than the other, News Five’s Delahnie Bain has a few of the crimes that punctuated the moral decay in our country this year.
Delahnie Bain, Reporting
marquis mahler
There is no way of overstating the low that Belize has reached when you look at the murder statistics for 2010. The fifteen minors who were killed this year are a testament to that. Eight year olds Marquis Mahler and Eyannie Nunez, were the youngest and most heart wrenching cases.
eyannie nunez
Marquis was shot seven times in an attack on his family home on July ninth. He underwent emergency surgery, but died the following. Meanwhile, Eyannie was tucked away in bed when her house was riddled with bullets. A single shot penetrated her upper body and she died next to her three siblings, who were also in the bed.
carmita rivas
Heading out of the deadly city streets, another minor was killed in Carmelita Village on September seventh. But this time, it was triple murder; mother, father and son.
pantaleon navarro & Carlos Antonio Wagner
Carmita Rivas was shot inside her kitchen and then her assailants made their way to a farm where her husband, Pantaleon Navarro and son, Carlos Antonio Wagner were working. They too were shot and killed.
Richard & Maria Stuart
Attorney Richard Stuart and his wife Maria, were also brutally slain. The culprit waited for them on the second floor of their home where they were ambushed and stabbed repeatedly on October eighteenth. Another prominent name on the list of Murder victims is Carlos Espat.
carlos espat
He was found dead in the bathtub of his apartment on September fourth and it was later determined that he had been bashed on the head and chest with a blunt object.
andre trapp
Some murders were outright brazen such as the shooting of Andre Trapp, the south side gang leader who was gunned down in front of the Magistrates Court.
philip hall
And others were just gruesome. On July twenty-seventh, Philip Hall was stabbed, castrated and set on fire in Corozal after a night on the town. But one of the most stomach churning acts was the killing of eighteen year old Raylene Dyer.
raylene dyer
She was beheaded at a slaughterhouse near Roaring Creek and dumped in the Belize River all because a friend wanted to steal her three month old baby and pass it off as her own. Raylene’s body has still not been found.
Delahnie Bain for News Five.
Also of note is that siblings, Benjamin and Onelia Rash, from the Toledo district have been missing for exactly four months today.
T.I.B This is Belize
I would have to say that would make the Mayan community of the Toledo District the most civilized community in all of Belize, congratulations to the Mayan community your district has just been awarded the most civilized community in all of Belize keep it up.
We can only hope that this year’s horror was enough to make us work harder to turn this ship around & do something to slow the blood shed next year. The most depressing part of this is the realization that of the eleven victims mentioned, arrests have only been made in the Dyer & Hall cases if I remember correctly.
It’s a damn Shame….Where are the enforcers?
Lionel,
Lets not say this is Belize because it ain’t. The figures are awful when you look at the stats as the amount of crime to the population of Belize. Some sort of serious crime sweep needs to be done, the police needs to be better equipped and trained to deal with the growing violence in the jewel, and thanks to the introduction of the american TV where all you see is violence and propaganda while we try to imitate them.
i bet this new year will be over 200 this time because of this no good gov and pm but things will come to a head this year get ready belizeans for the carnage.
this is so sad, and its not only the victims but the family left behind to morn.
Ok…so i am going to use the state of California in the United States as an example (no disrespect to “BZEinCALI” (by the way i love your posts…well most of them jeje). When we compare 2009 murder rates between the state of California and the country of Belize….things look BAD…VERY BAD FOR BELIZE. Lets take a look. In California for every 100,000 people 5.3 are killed by murder. Assuming that Belize in 2009 had a population of about 300,000 persons, for every 100,000 persons 34.3 are killed by murder. This means that Belize’s murder rate is a staggering 648% higher than California. (ps. i got my stats for california from the following website (http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/cacrime.htm)…The Belize stats from this news report…Do the math…and i hope i am wrong…Sad…very Sad…and the REAL CRIME IS THAT our elected officials continue to TURN A BLIND EYE…..
A very realistic picture here of what Belize has become, we cannot deny this reality, or turn a blind eye to it anymore, it is real, and it is here to stay for a while. This is massive and however immoral of the GOB to do nothing while a life abruptly comes to an end. Belize is no longer a place one was proud of calling home, we far away can only rely on godly powers to deliver our people on the right path, and hope that the deliverance will occur on time.
This disturbing picture can only be the explanation for corruption, and bad leadership, a leader who has failed its people and its country. The murder rate is at a staggering high for such a small country, how awful that is.
Unfortunately for the year 2010 the GOB has not come up with solutions to remedy the crime wave, better conviction rate or the bad economy.
There are simply no near future plans to create an environment for investment and prosperity, or change, and if we think that 2010 murder rate was bad or the economy was at an all time low, 2011 crime rate, and sloping economy will shock the hell of you.
I used to say ” leave them killers be, one day they will all run out of bad people to kill”, on the news many family members say that such person was a good person, never did any harm, just a lil weed selling, just a lil theivery, and so on. I did not mind those guys getting shot, because if you live by the sword you die by the sword. But when you look at these statistics, i am sure that the eight year olds did not do anything to deserve it. People getting caight by stray bullets. mistaken identity. I think if these guys want to go shoot somebody atleast go practice at the gun range so that you dont shoot any innocent bystanders. and if you cant hold a gun steady enough then dont go out there and start shooting like a fool.
it’s a hard fact to swallow and maybe that is because Belize does not even appear in most of the stats when it comes to international homicide rates maybe it’s because most of the statitistics are very old but as it is, it would seems like Belize is right at the top at no less than # 5 I would think # 3 just behind Columbia and Jamaica here is a nice website from the UN for those who are in denial latest figures are from 2008 Belize has certainly caught up with some of the big players in the last two years of the Barrow administration.
http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=UNODC&f=tableCode%3A1
check it out. Statististical Institute of Belize lists the popuplation of Belize District as 101,000.so if for the district of Belize we had 84 murders in 2011. that puts Belize district at 83.3 persons killed for 100,000. that’s among the highest in the world. Yet the PM says crime is down.. where is this guy living..
A quick check of the 5 top murder capitals of the WORLD
1. Mogadishu, Somalia
2. Cuidad Juarez, Mexico-130/100,000inhabitants
3.Caracas, Venezuela-13/100.00
4.New Orleans, USA 95/100.000
5.Cape Town, South Africa 65/100,000
Belize City this year has surpassed Cape Town for that spot in this list of SHAME. Somalia has no functioning government for the past 10 years, and the other cities are presently being civil unrest, drug war. What is Belize’s excuse.
What a disgrace Belize has become. The murder capital of Canada is Prince George in B.C. They had a total of 9 murders this year and they are shocked that their murder rate is so high. What would they say about Belize??? We need to bring in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to whip these lazy as* fat out of shape alcoholic mordelon Belizean police into shape.
This is just the tip of the iceberg….so many other murders go unaccounted for…like pple that go missing…we may never find them or their bodies. Really sad situation
@Oscar965, the love goes both way brother even when you disagree with me,. Thanks for the stats. Happy New Year to you & the rest of my Belizean brothers & sisters. Be safe.
WE PRAY FOR A BETTER – SAFER – HEALTHIER – HAPPIER NEW YEAR!!!!! Amen……….
The biggest crooks are in the police force, they swore to proctect and serve, yet they are the biggest thives and behind most of the murders that has been happening, our jewel has gone from grace to grass to !@$$, there is no one in the force that we can trust, it is sad, but there is a judge greater than all judges and one day those no good bastards will stand face to face to get their reward for their deeds, leaving this world is not the end but the begining of everlasting life either in heaven or hell, and may GOD have mercy on their sorry souls. peace… and may GOD bless Belize, a safe and happy new year to all.
I totaly Agree with Oscar965, the Belize we once knew is no more. The question which needs an answer is “what can be done to mend this horrible situation our little Belize is going through?”
our elected officials MUST do something before it gets even worst.
Belize has become a crime ridden nation. Even when a high profile individual such as Herman Morris is murdered, there are no arrests made. The investigation seems to be mishandled by the police. Such a horrible and brutal slaughter had to have been personal. If you look at his personal life, I am sure you will find some fishy individuals. Very suspicious behavior by his estranged wife. She should be suspect number 1.
A beautiful country becoming corrupted like the rest of the world. Why can’t these Belizean use their uniqueness to rise above the madness. You allow the uneducated, cowards to run the country. How does a country allow idlers to gun down officials in the openness? When are the educated people going to take back their country? When a the Godly people going to take back their country? We need to leave a positive legacy of Belize for our descendants on the map when we are all gone. Where are the honest politicians – the people voted in to take care of the country? May God help the BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY gone awry.
capital punishment is needed in Belize