Photo: Michael Williams, charged
Mother and two children stabbed during domestic dispute in Esperanza
by Khaila Gentle
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Nov. 21, 2022
A mother and her two children were stabbed on Saturday following a domestic dispute in the Cayo District. Forty-six-year-old Santa Elena/San Ignacio Town Council worker, Angelita Requeña, and her common-law husband, Michael Williams, Sr., got into an argument while at their home in Esperanza village at some time early Saturday morning. During that argument, Williams grabbed a knife and stabbed Requeña multiple times in the chest and body. He then attacked his sixteen-year-old son and fourteen-year-old daughter, stabbing both in the head, chest, and body.
One of the children was reportedly able to escape and reach a neighbor, who then called the police. Williams fled the scene, leading police to launch a manhunt, and was eventually found and detained in Belize City.
Senior Superintendent Hilberto Romero, Officer Commanding the Eastern Division, spoke about the incident during Monday’s police press briefing. He said that all three stabbing victims were taken to the Western Regional Hospital. One victim, Requeña’s 14-year-old daughter, later had to be taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where she is listed in critical condition.
Romero said that Williams has since been charged with three counts of attempted murder when he briefed the media today about the stabbing. He said that he, like many other Belizeans, had been awaiting the Yurumein, which signals the beginning of the Garifuna Settlement Day celebrations, when Requeña’s supervisor approached him and informed him about the incident.
The San Ignacio/Santa Elena mayor, Earl Trapp, said that he has spoken to Requeña over the phone since the stabbing. She told him that her son has already been discharged from the hospital and is doing okay. Requeña, however, is still recovering, having suffered a punctured lung.
“She is saying that it’s looking good, and I hope that [her lung] does heal, because normally when you get a lung puncture, if you don’t get it correct at the first procedure, there’s less chance for the lung to come back on its own,” he said.
Requeña also told him that her daughter is still in the ICU in Belize City and is in a coma.
According to Mayor Trapp, the council will be doing whatever it can to assist Requeña and her children, including providing them counseling when they are out of the hospital. He said that until now, she had never indicated that she was being subjected to any kind of domestic violence.