Earlier we told you about the Mexican national chopped to death inside a farmhouse in Douglas Village. Closer to the city – it appears that a machete was also the weapon used to kill a 74 year old Guatemalan farmer in Sandhill on Sunday night. That is when police believe Audomaro Mendoza was robbed and his throat was slit. His body wasn't discovered until last night. Here are the details.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This is the spot where the body of Audomaro Mendoza was found yesterday evening. It was in the backyard of this home he lived alone in on the Salt Creek Road in Sandhill Village. Mendoza was naked and his throat had been slit. 89 year old Pedro Alvarado went to look for Mendoza on his way home yesterday evening and noticed that something was wrong.
Javier Rodriquez, Neighbour
"The man's house opened right through, they broke down the wall and you could see right through and then my uncle came and then he came from the city and when we told him about it he went there and checked it out."
Pedro Alvarado, Found Body
"I saw the house broke open and inside the house I didn't see the body but I checked outside the house where I saw the body naked and a cut by the throat."
The sign in front of Mendoza's door says "out say" but what he really meant was to stay out and that is because neighbours say that his humble old man that has lived here by himself for 31 years has been repeatedly
robbed.
Javier Rodriquez,
"You see this little man, this man, you don't know how many times he has made complaints to the police that they are harassing him; they thief his plants, they thief his oranges. He complains to the police every time. People from around the area. I can't tell you or won't tell you but he complained. Two weeks ago he made the last complaint that they stole his plantains. They came and cut the plantains and he only lived by himself, he was an old man, but they took advantage of him. He always complained to Sandhill Police but they write it down and they do nothing about it."
Keith Swift,
Are you shocked that it came to this?
Javier Rodriquez,
"I am shocked because it happens too close to my areas because me will take no prisoners after this."
And even though he lived in Belize for 31 years –he never started a life – but he left one behind.
Friend of Mendoza,
"From I grow up as a child and then me having children and having kids and my children and my neighbour's children, everybody know him as Doza's and all the kids around Sandhill come and meet him because he gives them orange, bananas, and things like that and the children just loved the little man so they had no right to do the man that. No right at all. So listen here, whosoever did this to that man needs to go to jail and don't come out at all because they had no right."
Audomaro Mendoza was buried after a short funeral in Sandhill this afternoon. Investigations into his murder continue.
