It's a knife attack followed by a road traffic accident that rates as one of the most bizarre and terrifying events we've reported this year. And now Orange Walk Police are investigating the fatal traffic accident that left a couple dead on the Belize-Corozal Road. 7NEWS Jacqueline Godwin traveled up north and files the following report.
Clifton Tablada, Family Friend/Eyewitness
"Very fast, at least 75 to 80 miles per hour. He knocked them down, they did not even cry."
Cyril Thompson and Margaret Hyde were heading home when they were hit from behind by this pickup truck on the Belize Corozal Road. The couple, who were in the company of family and friends, were killed instantly. Today the vehicle's
driver twenty five year old Jarvin Torres was taken over to Orange Walk Magistrate's Court where he was arraigned on two counts of manslaughter by negligence.
Clfton Tabalda,
"Yes I saw the driver because the way how the pickup came, it had to be somebody drunk. Even if Margaret and Thompson weren't on that road, he would have still crashed into the house."
Orange Walk Police say they believe it was a combination of speed and alcohol that caused the accident. Torres told police that he was driving fast because he was rushing a friend Marco Leal to Northern Regional Hospital after someone stabbed him in the back while both of them were at the Hi Five Night Club.
Insp Alden Dawson, Orange Walk Police
"That is what he claims that he was taking a friend that was stabbed to the hospital and hence that is the reason why he was speeding."
Jacqueline Godwin, 7NEWS
"Do you know if this was any life threatening injury?
Insp Alden Dawson,
"No I don't believe that the stab that his friend received was life threatening."
Clifton Tablada,
"He did have somebody in the vehicle but the person he has in the vehicle is not a serious case that the person was on dying. The person had a stab in the back but when the incident has already happened, the person took at least about fifteen to twenty minutes before he went to the hospital. He walked out of the vehicle. So the person wasn't on dying."
Clifton Tablada, a BDF soldier, was in the family's company when the accident occurred. Tablada says they were all walking on the right hand side of the road when he looked back and saw a fast moving vehicle coming towards them.
Clifton Tablada,
"While walking I looked to the back and when I looked to the back I saw this pickup coming with a ball of speed. I pushed Margaret out of the way and told her to look out. Just the impact I heard hit Margaret and Thompson and I thought three of them were dead because I didn't see any of them until couple seconds after I saw Margaret's sister still standing up and then I ran over there and saw Margaret on the ground and Thompson under the vehicle."
Thompson was dragged some twenty five feet away as the vehicle as the pickup
truck continued to move out of control. It first jumped this culvert before it crashed into the cement post of this two storey house. The accident occurred only seventy five yards away from the police station. When cops arrived on the scene they found Thompson still pinned under the vehicle. Deputy Officer in Charge Inspector Alden Dawson says Torres appeared to be under the influence.
Inspector Alden Dawson,
"Well because of the aroma from his breath upon speaking to him and we believe he was under the influence of alcohol. The blood sample from the driver will be taken to the lab where it will be confirmed whether he was under the influence or not."
Cyril Thompson and Margaret Hyde were only a stone's throw away from home when they were killed. Today their family and friends want justice.
Rosalind Hyde, - Sister of Deceased
"All I hear the when my nephew say they knock my ma and Thompson so after that I holler where is my sister, where is my sister and when I look around I see her on the ground. And when I asked for him they say the vehicle dragged him all the way under the vehicle to where it stopped."
Rosalind Hyde says she was walking along with her sister when the vehicle struck Margaret and Cyril but because it happened so fast she did not see anything.
Rosalind Hyde,
"Well I never gone close to the vehicle the my nephew gone tot eh vehicle because I hear he gone to the driver and said, you killed my ma, you killed my ma. I never reached the vehicle I only hear when he say you killed my ma."
While the police await the results of Torres' blood test, inspector Dawson says drunk driving has been a problem in the north and they have been making every effort to put a stop to it.
Insp Alden Dawson,
"We have been issuing flyers, doings several check points. It is something that we continuously try to get control of because in Orange Walk there is a problem with drinking and driving so we focus a lot on drinking and driving. We have a lot of check points in place."
As the Hyde and Thompson families try to cope with their loss, they say they are surprised of Torres' reaction to the fatal traffic accident.
Rosalind Hyde,
"Well I don't know what is his decision because I said maybe he would come to the family and talk to them because they are already dead but he should have come and talked to the family and tell them, maybe for them to not have blood pressure, maybe he could have helped in something but we haven't heard anything."
Clifton Tabalda,
"The driver did not say anything because after the incident happened, when he came out of his vehicle, like he stood up right there and police were asking who is the driver and I told police that is the driver."
Jarvin Torres was offered bail in the amount of seven thousand dollars and two sureties each of three thousand five hundred dollars.
