BELIZE CITY, Tues. Mar. 2, 2021– The spate of home invasions that has recently been plaguing the country continued on Sunday, when an elderly couple from Teakettle in the Cayo District woke up to intruders in their home. Mrs. Beatrice Smith and her husband, an American couple who have lived in Belize for thirty-five years, were reportedly asleep in bed on Sunday morning when they were awakened by their bedroom light being turned on. To their surprise, several armed thieves had broken into their home and were searching for money.
According to Smith, there were at least four assailants in her home: three who approached her and her husband in the bedroom, as well as others whom she could hear ransacking the other rooms in her home. The elderly pair then had their hands bound and their mouths duct-taped. During an interview with News5, Smith described the harrowing ordeal, but stated that her faith in God allowed her to emerge from the situation unafraid:
“It was wonderful how the Lord was with me, because I wasn’t fearful, and they said ‘which one of you guys wanna die because you’re gonna tell us where the money is’. I said ‘me’, I admit. They came right in with two shotguns and, I guess it’s four guys, three came in, but there were some in the other bedrooms going through the stuff and I thought it was a nightmare; this can’t be happening,” she said.
The men apparently made their way onto the property through a faulty backdoor, despite the presence of a security officer in a nearby booth. They then proceeded to disable the surveillance system and cut the Smiths’ internet. Thereafter, they assaulted the couple, but when they demanded more money, Mrs. Smith told them that they had gotten all they would get.
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head of the Police Department’s National Crimes Investigation Branch, says that police are investigating the case, and that they have obtained several leads and have also detained two persons in connection with the robbery. Beatrice Smith and her husband first came to Belize to do missionary work before retiring in Cayo.