HATTIEVILLE, Belize District, Wed. June 1, 2016–A 14-year-old Hattieville boy will not face charges after chopping his stepfather with a machete in response to an incident of domestic abuse.
According to residents of Hattieville, Richard Smith (no age provided) has a history of abusing his common-law wife, Ursula Ferguson (no age provided).
However, on Tuesday morning, Smith became a victim of the very weapon he was wielding when his stepson intervened in an attack by Smith on the boy’s mother, Ferguson.
According to ACP Edward Broaster, “The female was held and prevented from calling the police; when she did manage to call the police and the police responded, the suspect fled into the bushes. Sometime thereafter, he went and hid in the ceiling of the house and when the victim returned with her son, he attacked them both — hence the reason the son defended his mother and inflicted the wounds upon the suspect, who had inflicted wounds on both of them as well. The suspect will be arrested and charged and taken to court.”
According to Ferguson’s daughter, Terry Saunders Ledlon, “Dehn mi deh inside and dehn mi have dehn fight and my ma couldn’t take it no more and she jump through the window and when she jump through the window, he probably figure that she mi wah holler fi somebody fi help ahn. He jump through the window behind ahn and she reach under the house bottom.
“And he gone behind ahn chop ahn with a machete weh ih probably mi have. When ih chop ahn, my lee bredda mi di try help my ma, because nobody wah di watch dehn ma di get hurt.”
So, according to Ledlon, the 14-year-old could not bear to see his mother being chopped by his machete-wielding stepfather (who pursued Ferguson after she jumped through a window and continued his attack), and so the boy got control of the machete and inflicted a wound on Smith.
Smith is at this time receiving treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), but will face charges for his attack on both his common-law wife and his stepson.
ACP Broaster told us that no charges will be filed against the 14-year-old boy, as he was simply defending his mother from his abusive stepfather.