A post-mortem conducted on the body of Don Tillett, 45, of Supaul Street, a vehicle repairman who died after being brutally beaten by men to whom he had given a ride in his car, certified the cause of his death to be marked cerebral edema (1560g) due to broncho aspiration (right lung 900g) due to dilated cardiomyopathy (760g) as a result of (1) congestine hepato splenomegaly and (2) diffuse hemorrhagic gastritis.

The autopsy was conducted at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) yesterday by Dr. Hugh Sanchez.

The official police report is that Tillett, on New Year’s Day, sometime after dark, went to check on a house off Central American Boulevard in Belize City in a silver Dodge Neon car, which belongs to his nephew, Roque Riverol. Tillett reportedly stopped on an unnamed street to give a ride to three men, one of East Indian descent and the other two of Creole descent.

Upon reaching the junction of the street and Central American Boulevard, Tillett was hit in the back of the head by the man seated behind him, rendering him unconscious.

He told police that when he regained consciousness, he was in mud and water in some bushes past the Haulover Bridge on the Philip Goldson Highway. He also realized that he had been robbed of $2,000, his black Apple iPhone valued at $1,800, the documents of ownership for his blue and silver Kawasaki motorcycle and his nephew’s car.

Tillett was admitted to the KHMH in a stable condition. He was discharged from the KHMH on Friday, January 3, and was at home recovering from the serious beating he had endured, but died sometime after 7:00 on Monday evening, January 6.

He had been rushed to the KHMH on Monday evening after he fell off his bed at home, and was not responding. He was declared dead at about 8:30 that evening on his arrival at the hospital.

His family is angry, because they felt that he was discharged too early from the KHMH. They said that he should have been hospitalized for a longer time and treated properly for the injuries before he was released.