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Beaten into a coma – he took too long to return a bike!

CrimeBeaten into a coma - he took too long to return a bike!

A father of two is presently lying unconscious, hospitalized in a coma for the past two days at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) after he was beaten, allegedly by two brothers, near his home on Central American Boulevard in Belize City.

Amandala understands that Lloyd Augustus, 35, was socializing with a group of friends this past Sunday, April 6, sometime in the afternoon, when he asked to borrow a bicycle from one of the persons he was socializing with. According to our reports, he did not return with the bike until later on in the night, which was when he was severely assaulted by two of the men.

Today, we spoke with his sister, who wished to remain anonymous, and she told us how the incident unfolded. She said, “The [beating] incident happened between 2:30 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. and I wasn’t around, but one of my friends came and told me that my brother was just taken to the hospital because he was just found on the street side, and he was badly beaten. I then went to the hospital and I saw the state that my brother was in, and the doctors told me that indeed he was in a bad condition. I then came back to my house and when I started inquiring, one of the main witnesses told me that he was beaten by two young men.”

As we understand it, it all happened because Augustus took too long to return the bicycle that he had borrowed from one of his colleagues.

“They said that my brother had asked one of them to borrow his bike so that he could visit his other sister’s house. The young man told him to go ahead, but don’t take long, and so he went, but I understand that he still took a long while to come back. When the young man saw that he was taking long, they [eyewitnesses] told me that he said, ‘Watch it weh wa ketch he when he come back.’”

“And when my brother came back, everybody had already gone home, so I think that it’s then that they got the chance to beat him up, because he was drunk at the time”, the sister explained.

She then described the cruel way in which Augustus was beaten.

“They said that it happened when he was coming in from off the Boulevard; he was knocked in his head and he dropped the bike and ran into the yard, where he fell and went unconscious, and they kicked and beat him until he revived, and he ran again.

“He was trying to get into the door and they caught him and beat him some more, until he was unconscious [again] and then they dragged him out to the Boulevard”, she stated.

She said that all the men hang out and drink together all the time, so she doesn’t know why they would have beaten her brother so badly. Uncertain as to what will be her brother’s fate, she stated, “Right now my brother is still in a coma and I really don’t know what will happen to him. His jaw is broken on both sides, all his teeth on the left side of his mouth are broken, his nose is also broken and he has a fractured skull and broken hands.

“They also said he had internal bleeding, but the doctors took care of that, so we are just waiting until he does another surgery on his throat, because they had to operate on his throat because he was having trouble breathing.”

The distraught sister told us that alcohol may have been a factor in the beating, because oftentimes, when the group of men get together and start drinking, they end up doing all kinds of lawless acts, and get into all kinds of trouble, and she believes that maybe their behavior is attributed to the type and potency of liquor that they usually drink.

Augustus’ relatives are doubtful as to whether justice will be served due to the fact that witnesses are reluctant to come forward with any information.

Due to the mounting medical expenses which the family says that they are unable to meet, they are currently asking for the public’s assistance to pay for some of those costs, and if anyone would like to aid the family, they can be reached at 663-0022 or 207-3344.

So far, police have not released any official details on the incident, but the Administration Officer at Precinct 2, Corporal Jorge Lemus, informed us that Augustus is in a critical condition at the KHMH and that Crimes Investigations Branch (CIB) personnel at Precinct 2 are currently handling the investigation.

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