SAN ROMAN, Stann Creek District, Wed. Jan. 12, 2022– On Tuesday night, what appears to be years of abuse inflicted on a 46-year-old woman and her 5 children led to the most tragic of outcomes: the death of a father at the hands of his eldest son, who seemingly could take no more. The incident occurred in the yard of a tiny thatched home in San Roman village in Stann Creek — to which Santa Ical, 46, who previously resided in Georgetown, had fled about a year ago along with five of her children to escape the violent acts of the children’s father, Amaya Salvador Rivas. 52. But sometime on Monday night, Rivas found the home in which the family was seeking refuge, and was allowed to sleep in the kitchen area, which is separated from the rest of the home.
It has been reported, however, that around 4:00 o’clock the following morning, on Tuesday, January 11, he forced his way into the home of the family, and entered the portion of the house where Ical and her five sons were sleeping in hammocks. Unconfirmed reports are indicating that he then proceeded to assault Ical, then he pounced on their 18-year-old son, and reportedly started to choke him while he was sleeping in a hammock. According to some reports, he then started an argument about a cellphone. Upon seeing the attack on his younger brother, the couple’s eldest son, identified as Olvin Rivas, 23, then grabbed a machete and chased his father into the yard, and it is there that he inflicted several chop wounds to the elder Rivas — bringing years of domestic abuse to a bloody end.
At least four chop wounds were seen at the back of the victim’s head by the village chairman, Augustine Choc, when he arrived on the scene later in the morning. Olvin Rivas had reportedly gone to Choc at about 5:45 a.m. to inform him that he had killed his father, and Choc, still unsure that indeeed Rivas was dead, had gone to see the body.
Choc told reporters that Ical told him that she had been in an abusive relationship with Rivas for years, and that he had placed a knife at her chest. Choc called the police, who transported rhe motionless body of Amaya Rivas to the Southern Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
One of Ical’s sons told local media that the abuse was daily, and said that his older brother wanted to avoid hurting his father by moving to San Roman with the family. Chairman of San Roman village, Augustine Choc, told 7News that Olvin Rivas told him, after the murder, “I’m not afraid. I kill my own father because I’m tired of his problems.”
On Wednesday police arrested and charged 23-year-old Olvin Rivas for the murder of his father. He was in police custody since Tuesday morning follwing the incident and reportedly confessed to the village chairman.