Another city murder claims life of youth

Politics, corruption and missing money may be foremost on the nation’s consciousness these last few weeks, but if the epidemic of senseless homicides now gripping the nation is allowed to continue, there may one day be nobody left to care about those weighty matters of state. News Five’s Marion Ali reports that the latest murder in Belize City forms part of a continuing drama of action and reaction.

Marion Ali, Reporting
Today police officers from the Crimes Investigations Branch were combing this abandoned property at the corner of an unnamed lane off Mahogany Street Extension for clues into the nation’s latest murder which occurred around eight last night.

Marion Ali
“Twenty-four year old Shadan March was riding a bicycle on this street heading home when a single gunshot struck him in the back of the neck. He fell in this drain and it would be another two hours before neighbours, including his mother, who had heard the shot, would realise what had happened.”

March’s body lay in the drain in the poorly lit area with his bicycle over him until around ten-thirty when a passer-by made the discovery. His mother, Laverne March, who was at home about a hundred yards from where the incident happened, said she was aware of a shot … but not its result.

Laverne March, Mother of Murder Victim
“I deh home and I middi watch the TV. I hear the gunshot but mussy between eight-thirty or nine o’ clock so never thinking da my son get it right. So when bout eleven o’ clock the police they come and call me. They come and they and ask fi come identify wah body because they find wah lifeless person pan the street. Somebody call them and tell them dat dah my son. I gone out and when I gone out they done tek ah outta di drain and they got ah pan the stretcher, they ready fi move and da when I si dat I see dah him.”

Marion Ali
“So ih mi de deh fi all this while and nobody no see ah?”

Laverne March
“Nobody no si ah cause ih mi deh eena di drain. Like ih drop off ah the bicycle, drop eena the drain and the bicycle drop pan top ah him.”

The killing, like the many others before, has left the family with more questions than answers.

Emmanuel Lopez, Father of Murder Victim
“I noh know weh he di du or weh kinda games ih into pan di streets because I noh really get into ih business and thing. They heartless, dah some heartless people. Why yoh wah shoot somebody eena di back ah their head fah? Why they neva come da front of ah and shot ah? Then I woulda more understand but from back on … dat da chance, dat da coward. I just hope the police find out da who.”

Laverne March
“The only ih mi tell me that ih get wah call pan the phone, dat how this person call and tell ah they deh got fifteen bullets for ah. That da all weh I know. I noh know who or what.”

Marion Ali
“Nor Why?”

Lavern March
“Nor why because ih wah third bredda but he like mostly deh eena gang business. So maybe—all weh I could seh—mussy mistake him and they kills dis one fi get to the next one. So noh know.”

Marion Ali
“When did he get this threat, last night too?”

Lavern March
“No, mussy bout wah week ago before this happen. That dah all weh he tell me so I noh know concerning fi what deh wah kill ah.”

This is what police are also trying to decipher, but C.I.B. Deputy Chief, Inspector Hilberto Romero says it’s going to take the public’s assistance to solve this and many other Belize City killings.

Inspector Hilberto Romero, Deputy O.C., C.I.B.
“That is where we get our evidence, our information and we ask people to come forward so that we can closure to these cases.”

Marion Ali
“Mr. Romero, there’ve been several murders over the past couple months, almost every week if not everyday, most of them have been unsolved, no arrests in some cases. Is it a lack of intelligence on the police part or lack of cooperation on the public’s part?”

Inspector Hilberto Romero
“We are investigating on that. We visit persons and we are facing difficulty with the areas where the shootings occurred; shot are just heard and then persons get shot so it is—I don’t want to say that it is just the public—but it is the areas that these crimes are being committed; they are isolated and sometimes the lighting condition is not good. so we have difficulties in those areas.”

One area that March’s parents would want to see quick attention given is the death sentence.

Emmanuel Lopez
“Capital punishment, dat da weh wi need, capital punishment. Once you deal wit that you wah find out di crime going down. I feel like we need capital punishment eena dis country now.”

Laverne March
“I really think deh shoulda start to hang those people that are killing. Please hang them.”

Marion Ali
“You think dat wah help the situation?”

Laverne March
“Maybe, I only could seh maybe. Maybe if they start hang then this killing wah try ease down.”

And while that wish is not likely to be implemented anytime soon, the government does have its plan for dealing with crime. Governor General, Sir Colville Young, read the statement at last Friday’s House sitting.

Governor General, Sir Colville Young
“A special gun court will be created to deal fairly but swiftly with crimes in involving the possession or use of guns and ammunition. The anti-drug unit will be strengthened with improved mobility, training and intelligence gathering to deal not only with drug dealers but also with the illegal gun trade. Government will invest the necessary human and capital resources to confront the problem of gang violence.”

Up to news time, police had not established whether March’s murder was gang-related and had no suspects.

Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.