The homeless of Belize City get by on the slender mercies afforded to those living below the base line of the social pyramid and this morning a violent and merciless attack on a homeless man made it clear how little regard at least one criminal mind has for the homeless. Michael McDonald was curled up and sleeping on Neal's Penn Road when he was simply doused with kerosene set on fire. 7NEWS was on what police say is now a murder scene and Keith Swift has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This spot in front of a Chinese Grocery Shop at the corner of Neal's Penn and Kraal Roads is where Michael McDonald had been laying his head down to sleep for the past 2 weeks. And McDonald was sleeping at this very spot last night when he was doused with kerosene from a bottle he had and then someone cruelly set him on fire. An area resident heard his frantic screams and called 911.
Witness,
"Last night I was sleeping and I heard a bawling. When I looked down I saw some clothes on the street catching fire. I hollered for the man who used to sleep downstairs in corner of the shop. I asked what happened to him and he told me they had burned him up. He told me somebody threw kerosene on him and burned him. He asked me to please help him. I told him to wait. I told him I was coming and I grabbed the phone from off the hook, because I have a cordless phone, and I came down. The state in which I saw him made me so sorry for him. I called the police and the police said they would come. When I looked at him he had on no clothes, the skin off his hand was hanging, his hand was bleeding, and he was just burnt up. He was bawling for help and the police called for the ambulance and then the ambulance came and they took him."
44-year-old McDonald was taken to the KHMH where Dr. Jose Carballo was part of a team of surgeons that tried to save his life.
Dr. Jose Carballo, Attending Physician - KHMH
"He came in a very critical condition with severe burns to his entire body. About 60% of his entire body was burned. There were different degree burns now, you had second degree and third degree burns. There were also internal organ burn to the trachea and the esophagus as well as to the mouth, tongue, and everything else."
"In his particular case Mr. McDonald must have inhaled while he was in pain probably and some of the heat wave went inside his lung causing severe trauma all the way from the mouth and nose into the trachea and all the way into the lungs, including the esophagus."
"If you can imagine when you get burned, after getting burned, the next thing is you will swell up so the same thing happens to the airwaves, to the trachea, after being burned. It swells up and it blocks the passage of air in this case."
After 90 minutes on the operating table, McDonald went into cardiac arrest and died at 8:30 this morning. Though the police list him as a homeless man, 7NEWS tracked down his family who provided us with this picture of McDonald as a teenager. His family reserved comment saying only that he was in and out of the Rockview Mental Hospital. And the last woman to see him alive is at a lost as to why he was dealt this cruel death.
Witness,
"I don't know him to be a troublemaker. 'Maca' (He) practically born on Penn Road and he grew up on Penn Road, he and all his family because I know all of them. He was a good boy. It is just since he got old like he lived his own life and he went to live on the street. But he was a good person."
Sorayda Alferez agrees. She never knew McDonald's name but remembers seeing him sleeping at his spot as recently as last night.
Sorayda Alferez, Area Resident
"I don't really know him but he looks like a very good person. Every time he says good night and was very respectful. He only said goodnight and I told him goodnight too and he just fall asleep."
Keith Swift,
So you were shocked to hear this had happened to him?
Sorayda Alferez,
"Yes I heard it on the news and I remembered the man and I wondered if it was him or someone else. But then I think (realized) it was the same man when my friend came to tell me, because she was with me last night. I felt sorry for him. I said to my mom it was unfortunate to see homeless people without any home, and maybe family but who don't care about them. I feel sorry because I appreciate everyone: poor, rich, colored or white. I appreciate everyone and I feel sorry about them."
Witness,
"I think the person who burnt him have no conscience because they have to realize that he is a next human being's child so they shouldn't have done him that."
Of note is that though he had moved from the area, McDonald grew up on Neal's Penn Road. Police say they are investigating his death as a murder but have no suspects detained or in mind.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited for the internet by Keith Swift
