He lost his three children on Thursday night and now 36 year old Francisco de Jesus Hernandez has lost his freedom. Hernandez is the father of the three children who were left home alone and perished in the fire in Belmopan. Today he was charged with three counts of manslaughter by negligence. Bail was denied. Hernandez was remanded to prison until August 8th.
His three children: 7 year old Heidi, 6 year old Nahim, and 10 year old Francisca Adonai Guardado were killed when their one bedroom home in the San Martin area of Belmopan caught fire on Thursday night. Neighbours heard the three children screaming for help but by then it was too late. The one bedroom house was already devoured. Fire officials recovered the charred remains of all three children. A post mortem on Friday certified the cause of death as calcination due to dry heat.
Hernandez was a single father and he left the children home alone so he could go and make tamales to sell. He has told investigators that when he left home, the children were sleeping and a candle was left lit. Fire officials haven’t determined if that was indeed the cause of the fire. They also would not confirm if the children were locked inside, but we do know that a clasped lock was found at the scene.
