Dog drags corpse of infant; conditions of death unknown

Down south, Punta Gorda police are investigating the bizarre death of an infant in the remote village of Jalacte, a Mayan community adjacent to the Belize/Guatemala border in the Toledo District.  On Saturday afternoon around two-thirty, Rolando Sho encountered the grotesque sight of a dog dragging the lifeless body of a newborn in a nearby yard.  Upon closer inspection Sho noticed that the baby, a little girl only a few hours old, was missing two extremities.  Her left arm and leg had been severed.  Sho immediately notified the village leader who in turn transported the corpse to the Punta Gorda Police Station before being transferred to the Punta Gorda Town Hospital for an autopsy.  News Five spoke with Inspector Marcelino Choco earlier today.

Via Phone: Marcelino Choco, Deputy Commander, Punta Gorda Police

“The alcalde of the village was informed of an incident where he visited an area at a particular address.  They found a lifeless body of a child.  They brought it to the Punta Gorda Police Station after which the body was taken to the Punta Gorda Morgue.  The investigation was conducted and so far the observation on the body is basically the fact that the child is missing an arm and it’s missing a leg.  A post mortem was conducted and the result of that post mortem is yet to be released and that is basically what we have so far.”

Isani Cayetano

“The police report has this incident as a sudden death.  Are you guys treating it as such or has this been increased to negligence or murder or some other sort of motive?”

Voice of: Marcelino Choco

“Yes, there is a form of negligence.  There is a form of negligence.  We are looking at some possible charge to the mother but because the investigation has not concluded, in fact, our police officers are heading back to the village tomorrow to record further statements from other persons that may be able to give us useful information.  So at the conclusion of the investigation we will be deciding what charge will be preferred.”

Isani Cayetano

“Are you able to determine or were you made aware of the age of this newborn in terms of days or weeks or what have you?”

Voice of: Marcelino Choco

“Yes it is a full gestation, full nine months old pregnancy. The birth may have occurred sometime between five and six p.m. and discovery of the body was around ten p.m.”

The mother of the child has since been identified as thirty-one year old Juana Pop, a Guatemalan national currently residing in Jalacte.  The last reported case of negligence occurred at the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan in early May when a member of staff discarded a stillborn in a dumpster despite its mother’s request to have a proper burial.