_{Photo: Brett Brenton Mejia, remanded}

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Nov. 7, 2024

Tonight, sisters of a man in Hattieville accused of attempting to murder his brother-in-law during a family dispute, say no justice has been served, as their brother is innocent and was acting in self-defense.

Over the weekend, a report went viral of a family dispute where a man allegedly stabbed his sister’s common-law-husband, because he allegedly tried to rape her. The sisters of the accused man, their 23-year-old brother Brett Brenton Mejia, aka “Pito”, came to court today in support of him.

Mejia, a self-employed food vendor of Mile 15 in Hattieville, appeared unrepresented before a Magistrate in Court #7 and was read charges for two criminal and indictable offenses of attempted murder and use of deadly means of harm upon Kenroy Lanza, 24, his brother-in-law.

_{Photo: Kenroy Lanza, victim}

In court, no plea was taken from Mejia due to the nature of the offenses. Under the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Act Section 16-2A, attempted murder and use of deadly means of harm are offenses where the Magistrate’s hands are tied from granting bail; and so, Mejia was remanded to the Belize Central Prison until January 6, 2025.

Outside the court room we spoke with Mejia’s 19-year-old sister, who is Lanza’s common-law.

The 19-year-old told us that Lanza was drunk and he was abusing her and tried to rape her; and so she ran over to her mother’s house which is 40 yards away to seek help; and her common-law, armed with a knife and a machete, followed her.

The teenager told us that Lanza attacked her and her mother, and in fear for their lives, she ran and got her brother.

Her brother, Brett Mejia, tried to disarm Lanza, and whilst he was trying to take away the machete and knife, he (Lanza) was “juk” accidentally with the knife.

Lanza is still hospitalized today, and Mejia is on remand at Belize Central Prison.

Mejia’s sister said the police should never have charged her brother, as he acted in self-defense, and that it was Lanza, her common-law, who started the entire incident.

According to the 19-year-old, she will not be staying with Lanza after this incident. She said that she will raise her one-year-old son alone, and she wants justice for her brother.

The Mejia family told us that the police did not want to take their statement, and according to the 19-year-old, when she was trying to tell the police what had transpired, they told her that her story makes no sense.

The Mejia family retained the services of an attorney at noon today, after they watched their brother being escorted to the Belize Central Prison on remand.

The 19-year-old who was abused and nearly raped told us that the family will return to the police station to try and make their official report, and that she will be filing charges against Lanza.

The facts of the case which led police to arrest and charge Brett Mejia:

On Sunday, November 3, 2024, information was received that someone had been stabbed at around 9:00 p.m., and based on this information, Hattieville Police personnel responded to 15 Miles Old Hattieville area where, near the Mejia’s residence, Police met a brown skinned male person bleeding and being escorted out to the roadside by his common-law wife, also a domestic of 15 Miles Old Hattieville.

Police say the man, who was later identified to them as Kenroy Lanza, was seen bleeding from the neck area, and police quickly assisted him into the Police Mobile and took him to meet the BERT Ambulance on the George Price Highway.

Police say their initial investigation revealed that sometime after 1:00 p.m., Lanza and his common-law wife had just come to Hattieville from the Lords Bank area in Ladyville, where they had spent the night, when sometime after 7:00 p.m., Lanza wanted to have sexual intercourse with his common-law wife, and she refused.

Lanza got upset and with a machete in hand chased his common-law wife into her mother’s house. There, Brett Mejia intervened; and a fight started between Mejia and Lanza, and Lanza was injured to his body with an object.

According to the police report, Lanza then went to where his common-law wife was, and that’s when she noticed he was bleeding and assisted him to walk to the roadside to get help.

Police said sometime after 10:00 p.m. Crime Scene technicians processed the scene of the stabbing incident; and according to police, they recorded a statement from Lanza’s common-law wife and spoke to other persons in the area.

The following day, police said they spoke to two members of Mejia’s family, and based on their statement given, a wanted poster was put out for Brett Brenton Mejia, who later handed himself in to police.

According to police on Wednesday, November 6, 2014, Brett Brenton Mejia, while in custody, gave police a video recorded interview and also gave a caution statement in the presence of a JP.