Police have their hands full, investigating the violence and crimes that continue unabated in Belize City. There were reports of two murders over the weekend in the City, and now, it has been found that apparently, there had been another weekend killing.
The badly decomposing body of a woman – naked from the waist down – was discovered on a verandah of an unoccupied house off Central American Boulevard this afternoon, shortly after midday. The woman’s body displayed evidence of a vicious sexual attack – one of her breasts had been severed and a piece of stick that had been burnt had been pushed up her vagina.
It is not clear, at this time, whether the stick was set on fire after it was pushed into her body, or not.
The body was identified as that of Ella Bennett, 42, who is originally from Honduras, but has been living in Belize City for about 18 years.
Due to the advanced state of decomposition that the body was in, a post-mortem was performed on the spot by Dr. Mario Estradabran. The body was then taken to the Lords Ridge Cemetery.
When Bennett’s body was discovered, her face was covered with a piece of brown material and blood had been oozing out of her head. The gruesome discovery was made after someone told Mrs. Homer Leslie, of Safeway Drugs Store, that there was someone lying on her verandah.
According to Mrs. Elda Jones, who works on Central American Boulevard, Mrs. Leslie told her that a “dread man” had informed her that there was someone lying in the lot immediately behind Jones’ workplace.
But when they went to the lot, they discovered, not a person in repose, but the corpse of a woman who most likely had been dead for over a day. Jones said that she was lying on her back with her legs stretched open, on the verandah.
An individual who works in the area told Channel 7 News that a man who washes vehicles for him, and is familiar with the woman, approached him on Saturday night to borrow $5 to “deal with a suspect” (the female). He lent the man the money, and according to him, the man apparently went with the woman, who was waiting for him.
It is not known at this time whether any other person saw the woman before she was killed.
According to Patrick Gabourel, 68, a food vendor, with whom Bennett has a seventeen-year-old son, he had not seen her for quite awhile, because they had not been living together.
Gabourel said that he learned that Bennett had been killed when some people from his Mopan Street neighborhood told him this afternoon that they had found the body of “Gial Gial” on Central American Boulevard.
“But by the time I got there they had already removed her body and taken it to the burial ground,” Gabourel said.
Gabourel told Amandala that according to what he heard, Bennett was murdered sometime during Saturday night. “Police told me that they have a suspect in custody,” he disclosed.
Gabourel said that his son, Brian Vasquez, does not yet know that his mother had been murdered because he (Brian) was in police custody on Saturday.
“I visited my son at the police station and took dinner for him on Sunday. Police say that he is being charged with loitering. He should have been released already; I don’t know what the holdup is,” Gabourel said.
As of press time tonight, police have not released a statement on the matter.