This past Saturday, those closest to 33-year-old Winston "Tanga" James laid him to rest with a funeral that was attended by hundreds and watched by over 10,000 viewers. The gang-figure was gunned down ten days ago, on January 21st after attending a court date. Since then, his girlfriend, Marybeth Wade - who was in the car when he was killed - has spoken about being treated as a suspect and the curious case of Tanga's missing gold rings.
But none of that could have prepared her - or the rest of Tanga's family - for what came after the funeral. The send-off was extravagant, complete with cash and alcohol for Tanga to take into the afterlife. But where most saw a grieving family, others saw an opportunity for a quick "come up." Courtney Menzies has this story.
This was the funeral for 33-year-old Winston "Tanga" James - a gang figure who was elevated from underworld notoriety to social media celebrity, and, fittingly, attended by hundreds of family and friends who wanted one last goodbye - and watched by thousands who wanted to engage in the spectacle.
And while the funeral itself had its own mishaps - fights and arguments breaking out - the true tragedy came hours after he had been laid to rest.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, tomb raiders snuck into the cemetery and stole from a dead man's coffin.
Andrew Munnings, Funeral Director
"I am currently here at the Lord Ridge Cemetery and if you can see at the moment, the casket for Tanga is actually opened. The casket for Tanga is opened and that is because, I know you read the article on Belize News Network, that 2 o'clock this morning, couple thieves came to the grave and they fled off when police came. On upon arriving here just now, we realized that the bricks that we had placed there was not the original bricks that we had sent. Which truly means, automatically we realized that the tomb was tampered with. The flowers that was inside the tomb was now outside the tomb. So upon opening the tomb, we realized the casket was not placed how we placed it so we opened the casket and all jewelry, all the cash that was set on tanga yesterday, someone came in the course of last night and early this morning to rob Tanga of all his belongings."
And those belongings included a bottle of Tanqueray and a large sum of cash that his brother sent him off with - along with several of Tanga's favorite gold rings.
Funeral Director, Andrew Munnings expressed his disappointment at this heartless theft, saying that he'd never witnessed something like that before. But the police haven't even started looking for the thieves yet because they say they need a report before they investigate.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Officer
"We haven't received any formal complaint as to you the raiding of his tomb, to put it in perspective, but we would encourage some relative or maybe even the undertaker to come and make a complaint to the police. Of course we're not ignoring the fact that police officer did respond to a call of disturbance some time after 2am yesterday, Sunday the 30th, our officers when arriving at the scene at the cemetery, they saw some people running away from that area. If you're familiar with that cemetery, you would know that if the officers entered via vehicle, they would hear and see the police coming from a distance so those persons made good their escape. Of course, at that time our officers couldn't establish whether or not anything was missing."
And, while Tanga's tomb raiders are still at large, reports suggest that the family is content to not pursue charges.
There is speculation, however, that the money may have been counterfeit.
