Two murders in city keep cops busy
Belize City lived up to its violent reputation this weekend with two residents dead and another four recovering from stab wounds. The pair of homicides occurred within three hours of each other on Friday night.
Ernest Smith, Cousin of Murder Victim
“Because my lee cousin he give trouble right, he gives trouble. I noh wah say he no give trouble, he give trouble but I still wan know why they killed my lee cousin.”
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
Twenty-nine year old Earl Figueroa was out socializing with friends on Friday night but according to his cousin Ernest Smith, Figueroa left the group on a bicycle to meet someone but he never returned. It was not until the following morning that they found out that he had been killed. According to the police around eleven-thirty that night a couple of tourism police were on bike patrol in the Southern Foreshore area when they heard two gunshots. When the officers investigated they discovered Figueroa’s body lying in a drain at the corner of South Street and Southern Foreshore.
Ernest Smith
“Earlier inna the week, he did got some dispute with some gentlemen about some vehicle glass broken up and thing but we noh know the person who the vehicle belong to. But all I wan know dah who kill my lee cousin and ask them why they killed my little cousin for, right.”
“I believe he was chased because he was found way on South Street and he dah wah person he noh go out a town. South Street is where? Way by Bliss area, that side there or close to the Foreshore area right. So probably he was riding on West Street or some one of them street round by Rocky Road area and probably somebody sight him, probably have an old beef and just wan get rid of him. I would ah say that’s all because he dah wah person weh noh go out a town.”
It is not the first time that Figueroa has been in the news. In fact it was his habit of breaking people’s vehicles that got him into trouble with the law. Today Figueroa’s family blames their loved one’s behaviour on an old injury that he received two years ago.
Jacqueline Godwin
“You were saying that it was the result of an old gunshot injury that caused him to be a little bit unstable and that led him to go around and vandalize vehicles?
Ernest Smith
“That’s right. The gunshot wound was in his head that moved form his jaw to the left temple or right temple so now and again he get a little silent but he is a person who kept together also a person who does not give no trouble. When he sit down and drink his lee wine, he is a person that would talk, talk, talk and people would watch pan ah and say he crazy and thing but he is not crazy, he has his good sense together.”
Jacqueline Godwin
“So when he was on medication, he was very calm?”
Ernest Smith
“Very calm, he was very calm but I noh know weh happen to him.”
Figueroa who received a gunshot to the left side of his chest died at the scene. Four hours later the police were back on the streets. Around two-thirty on Saturday morning, authorities responded to a stabbing incident on West Canal that left thirty-one year old Albert Victor Castillo dead. Castillo, who was the chief cook at Belize Sugar Industries Storage Division was repeatedly stabbed while inside or outside a parked car with a female companion.
Ella Arzu Castillo, Mother of Murder Victim
“They say he got a next lady and that he was with her all the while so maybe, I hear that she got a man that she part with him I noh know how long they part but also I hear that he was threatening him so maybe that is the time they get to him.”
Jacqueline Godwin
“And that was the only problem you know Albert may have had?”
Ella Arzu Castillo
“That’s all I know. Otherwise Albert is a kind person.”
Erica Blanco
“Well according to what I hear he was sitting on the vehicle holding his head, that dah according to weh I hear, and the person just stab up ah. I hear he run cross after the boy and he gone inna the house, that dah weh I hear from the police but apart from that I noh hear nothing else.”
Castillo better known as “Cashew” was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital but he died four hours later while undergoing treatment. Today Castillo’s common law wife Erica Blanco appeals for public’s assistance in solving the crime.
Jacqueline Godwin
“Do you know how many times he was stabbed?”
Erica Blanco
“Three times, three times, two in the neck and one inna his chest. I just want justice for Albert. Anybody see anything, I just want unnu call or say something because somebody must see who do that.”
“He noh deserve fi mek him dead like that. He noh need fi dead like that. Somebody must see when he get stab you understand because he dah noh anybody weh trouble anybody out here you know. I just want justice for Albert.”
Police press officer G. Michael Reid says although they still have not found the killers in either murder case, they have been making good progress with the information they have received.
G. Michael Reid, Police Press Officer
“The police do have some leads and are following up on these leads. It is a complicated matter and sometimes it takes a lot of leg work and intense investigation to come up with enough evidence to levy a charge on a person. There are times when the police know who committed or have a very good idea of who committed these acts but they have to be very diligent in tying the ends together and making sure that the evidence that is there will support a case in a court of law.”
“We believe that there were prior incidents that led up to these incidents here that resulted in the loss of life and these are some of the things that the police look at to help them determine who is responsible here.”
Ella Arzu Castillo
“I hope they would find him and put him to jail or they hang him because Albert don’t deserve a death like that you know. He don’t deserve a death like that.”
The murders are number twenty-eight and twenty-nine for the year if one counts the discovery of Janet Myvette’s remains, found in March, in the 2007 total. Last year at this time the homicide count stood at nineteen.
