by Charles Gladden

HOPKINS, Stann Creek District, Mon. Oct. 3, 2022

Police are searching for four men who they believe were involved in the fatal stabbing of Norman Castillo, 45, laborer of Hopkins Village, Stann Creek District, on Friday night, September 30.

According to police reports, Castillo and his wife were relaxing in their yard together just after 10:00 p.m. on the southside of Hopkins Village when a group of men passed the couple’s residence, and for a yet unknown reason, an argument flared up between Castillo and the men.

That argument became a physical altercation, during which Castillo was stabbed twice in the left side of the chest. He was later taken to the Southern Regional Hospital, where he passed away from the injuries he received.

“It seems like the Devil is really busy. You try your best to hold down areas where you believe things may occur and from nowhere …, I don’t understand. If you’re walking, go about your business. But again, these are things that people expect the police can stop. We just can’t. It is extremely difficult … The fact that we are unable to live in peace-loving harmony with each other is creating [a] problem, and until we recognize that to live with each other, the problem is going to continue,” said Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, during comments he made about the incident.

Today, Monday, October 3, at a police press briefing, ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, communications director of the Belize Police Department, told local reporters that the police are currently carrying out a death investigation, and at the conclusion of that investigation, they “will know exactly which direction [they] will take, whether or not it is murder or manslaughter.”