The Old Capital continues to reel under an onslaught of murder and mayhem that began last week Thursday, July 24, and continued over the weekend. The period saw four men killed, four attempted murders, and two bodies found.
Yesterday, Wednesday, unbelievably, there were three more murders, all occurring in a little over six hours.
The second of the three murders hit close to home.
Kremandala today mourns the passing of 21-year-old Travis Westby, the eldest of eight children, murdered around 8:30 p.m. on July 30 as he sat on the verandah of his girlfriend’s home.
Westby, according to a relative, was waiting for his girlfriend to finish taking a bath so that they could go out to buy.
Travis’ aunt, Colleen Westby-Yarwood, who visited her nephew’s workplace this afternoon, spoke to us.
She says that after she, Travis’ girlfriend, was questioned by police, the girlfriend told her that while she and Travis were in the yard, a man came to the gate asking for a drink of water.
She, surprised, told him that he had just come from his home.
The man told her “No go aan like dat! Jus get some cold water!”
So she went and got the water.
She handed him the water at the gate, but the man just drank two mouthfuls and threw the rest on the ground.
Another relative said that the girlfriend then told him that it looked as if he wasn’t thirsty at all.
When she walked away with the glass, the man asked her if she wanted some birthday cake.
“Why yu wan gi me birthday cake?” the girlfriend asked, but in the end, she told him that if he wanted to bring it, “Jus bring it.”
Yarwood said that the man then asked the girlfriend, “Who da buoy? Dat da yu buoy?” referring to Travis.
She replied, “Why yu di aks mi dat?”
She then went inside the house to put down the glass, whereupon she heard the first shot.
She tried to rush outside, but was held back by her sister. She heard many more shots.
When the shooting was finished, she rushed outside, and heard Travis calling her name. He was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. The assailant was nowhere to be seen.
The police were called and Travis was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where “Bugs,” the nickname his friends and family knew Travis by, was pronounced dead on arrival. A police report said they observed a total of ten gunshot wounds – five to the abdomen, two to the right leg, and one each to the left eye, chin, and right arm.
Family members, still unaware that Travis had died, rushed to the hospital, including his grandmother Barbara, who raised him and his two younger brothers and five sisters after their mother, Arlene, died.
Another of Travis’ aunts, Georgia Nicholson, remembered Travis today as a fan of basketball and reggae music. He never played professionally, but joined local amateur teams for tournaments.
Other than that, Travis Westby generally went from home to Amandala, where he was a handyman, then to his girlfriend’s house to hang out, and then back home.
When we visited the family home on Cumberbatch Street in the Junesville area (notably, the same street on which Floyd McFadzen died in April), they were noticeably calm. According to Nicholson, that is because much of the crying and wailing took place outside of the glare of television lights and cameras, and they wish to present a strong face to the younger ones as they prepare to bury the St. John’s Extension graduate.
Nicholson told us at this morning’s post-mortem at the KHMH that the family still couldn’t believe Travis would be shot down like that, and does not know who would want him dead. Then again, that has been the cry of so many families in a blood-soaked Belize City.
Unofficially, Westby’s murder is number 62 for the year by Amandala’s count, and 39 for the Belize District. After today’s murders, Amandala records a total of 63 murders and 40 murders in the Belize District for the year. July ends as the bloodiest month on record this year, with seventeen murders committed – eight in Belize District, seven in Cayo, and one each in Orange Walk and Toledo. Police are, at press time, still looking for the suspect in connection with Westby’s murder.
The other two murders are recorded elsewhere in this issue. Leslie Gentle is the first victim, and Kenton Lewis, Travis’ friend, is the third victim.