BELIZE CITY, Mon. July 19, 2021– A young woman, 23, died early Sunday morning after allegedly being brutally beaten by her husband’s two sisters and a third woman.

The victim, identified as Jessica Choc by police, was a young mother who resided in Armenia Village in the Cayo District. Reports are that Choc was badly beaten in her face, and her back was repeatedly slammed onto the ground late Friday evening, by her husband’s sisters, and another woman with whom he was reportedly involved romantically.

Reports are that the three women pounced on Choc and assaulted her while she was trying to intervene in an altercation in which her husband was involved. The women were hurling insults at Choc during the attack, and they reportedly fought with the victim until they had pinned her onto the ground, after which they violently and repeatedly slammed her down—likely causing some trauma to her back in the process. According to one eyewitness, the women were beating Choc relentlessly before her husband intervened and pulled the women away from her.

The eyewitness said that Choc then walked away from the scene of the attack and began to cry. She reportedly left the village on Saturday morning and sought refuge at her mother’s house in Belmopan, but first she went to get medical attention and reported the incident to the police.

A little after midnight on Sunday morning, however, the victim’s mother, 51-year-old Epifania Itch, had to call the police so that they could transport Choc, who was breathing heavily and experiencing pains in her throat, stomach, and back, to the hospital. Police reported that she had already become unresponsive at the time.

When the victim arrived at the Western Regional Hospital, she had already passed away.

A video has surfaced which purportedly shows the moments before the attack on Choc. Although the lighting in the video is poor and the images are not clear, women can be heard speaking in the Maya Mopan language. According to local translators, they were saying vile, distasteful things to the victim, one even urging the others to “kill her”.

At the start of the video, a woman can be heard calling out to the victim.

Unconfirmed reports are that Choc’s husband was involved in a romantic relationship with the third woman involved in the attack. In the video, one woman accuses the victim of having a relationship with someone else, and can be heard telling her that she is not the woman they wanted as a partner for their brother.

Police are currently awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination on Choc’s body to ascertain the cause of her death and determine whether or not any charges can be levied against the women who attacked her.