PUNTA GORDA, Toledo District, Thurs. May 18, 2017–A Punta Gorda man with a broken heart, obsessed with and unable to get over his former lover, is accused by police of stabbing her eight times and murdering her new lover after consuming an assortment of alcoholic beverages.
Police reports reveal that at around midday on Wednesday, Simon Lino (in his early twenties) drove himself to the residence of Tiannie Figueroa, 20, on VOA Road in Punta Gorda.
When he arrived, she was socializing with her relatives. Lino sat in her couch for a few minutes and then reportedly took out a kitchen knife and stabbed her eight times over her body.
He only stopped after one of her friends lashed him across the body with a metal object.
Lino then ran out of the house and drove to the residence of Lascelle Martinez, 36, on Victoria Street in Punta Gorda. Martinez had been dating Figueroa since February of this year. Lino called out for Martinez, and after a brief verbal exchange, Martinez was stabbed three times with the same knife.
Martinez, dubbed the “King” of the popular Coolie Rebels band and the son of former UDP Human Development and Social Transformation Minister, Peter Eden Martinez, was able to make his way to the Punta Gorda Hospital, where he, a father of three, died an hour later.
Figueroa remains in a stable condition after she was transported from the Punta Gorda Hospital to the Southern Regional hospital.
Lino remains wanted by police, but he is yet to be located.
According to the Deputy Officer Commanding Toledo police, Inspector Francis Zuniga, he has received reports that Lino has made his way to Livingston, Honduras.
When Amandala asked what measures have since been taken to capture him, Zuniga told us that he had issued an all-points bulletin and notified his counterparts in INTERPOL.
The Punta Gorda Town Council has since issued a statement saying, “The municipality lost another musical icon, in a tragic incident. Lascelle Martinez was a son of the soil, the youngest offspring of Mr. Eden Martinez and Ms. Sandra Cayetano. He was known nationally for his commitment to music, his love for his friends, but most of all, for his free-spirited personality that naturally charmed the world.”
The statement continued, “Lascelle was a loving father who openly cherished his relationships with his children and had a close relationship with his siblings and family members. He developed friendships that became more like brotherhood; friends he loved and cherished.”
According to Punta Gorda mayor Fern Gutierrez, this incident not only represents a difficulty resolving conflicts peacefully, but also an increase in violence against women in her municipality.
She remembers Martinez as a wonderful friend and a committed musician.
His death has stirred an outpour of sympathy from Belizean artists across the country, including Supa G Martinez and Reckless Flores.
At 10 a.m. on Monday, funeral services for Martinez will be held at St. Peter Claver parish in Punta Gorda. On Sunday, a wake is scheduled at his mother’s residence on Jose Maria Nunez Street. A musical tribute in his memory is also scheduled to take place at 8 p.m. on Sunday night at the “Garden of Eden.”