It is the most fundamental duty of the man of any house to protect his wife and daughters but this morning in Xaibe Village, Apolonio Tun was killed in his home trying to do just that, as he was protecting his daughter from a rapist.
In a land where outrageous acts are commonplace, this crime sets a frightening new standard as an armed intruder brazenly made his way into the family home with lust and murder in his mind. Alfonso Nobletraveled to Corozal to document a crime that has left the small village in total shock.
[Crying in Spanish ‘My God I can’t deal with it anymore.]
Aracely Tun could simply not contain the tears that overcame her today. She cries, mourning the loss of her husband, 43 year old Apolonio Tun who was killed inside his home last night. Araceli says that shortly before midnight she was awakened by the cries of help coming from her 16-year-old daughter. A man identified as Jose Coyoc entered this house armed with a shotgun, a handgun and a knife and, quite calmly, sat at the bed where the 16-year-old girl slept.
16 year old Daughter of Murder Victim,
[Translation] “I was asleep. When I woke up I saw someone sitting down but I could not recognize him because he had his face covered with a handkerchief. He did not tell me anything he was just touching me on the head. That is when I took off his hand. Then I saw him get up and take out a cartridge out of his pocket and put in the shotgun and aimed it at my mother. I then shouted for my mother and told him not to do it. I told him three times not to do it.”
Araceli Tun, Murder Victim’s Wife
[Translation] “The man had me threatened. He had the shotgun pointed at me while I was in the hammock. He said that if I got up he would kill me. He had the gun on me when I got up and asked him what he was doing inside my house he did not answer. Then he said that if I took another step he would shoot me. When my husband heard this, he got up from his bed where he was asleep then he approached the man and he was asking the man for the gun but the man refused to give him. The man did not want to give him the gun. And he told my husband that if he took another step he would shoot. Then my husband took one step more and the man shot him.”
That shot hit the 43 year old Tun in the upper chest killing him almost instantly in his home near to the bed which he had just awakened from. And even as the damage of the gunshot could be seen inside the home the family simply could not believe that the man would walk into their home for the sole and sinister purpose. But she acknowledges that numerous threats he had made over the years.
Araceli Tun,
[Translation] “It's been long since he's wanted my daughter from ever since she was at school. From when my daughter had 13 years he's been following my daughter. We didn't want to give her to him. My husband did not want to so I don't know how it is that came into our house. We were asleep. He was touching my daughter.”
“I never thought that this man would come into my house and kill my husband. He had threatened the whole family from a long time ago. He said that if we did not give him our daughter he would kill us all. He said he would kill the father then me then my children those threats and worries were foreshadowed just hours earlier as the man was stalking the 16 year old girl from earlier that night.”
16 year old daughter,
[Translation] “I was coming from church when he was following me with his bicycle last night. I was coming with my little brothers and I told them to run.”
At midnight last night however no running could save them from tragedy and now this 43 year old husband leaves behind 12 children and another on the way while the killer is on the run.
Jose Coyoc remains at large and that Belize Police Department is working with its Mexican counterparts to apprehend him. For context we note that the same Jose Coyoc has been previously detained for another murder which occurred at the same village back in the early 90's. At the time he was accused of killing 14 year old Clarita Triminios, again with a shotgun.