A man was brutally beaten in Orange Walk Town on Friday night, allegedly by a BDF soldier. 38-year-old Estevan Baeza was near the Central Park when he reportedly got into an altercation with the soldier, Private Raheem Williams. According to Baeza's mother, Baeza suffered from massive head and throat injuries and was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. He was scheduled for a CT Scan today, but by the time his family got to the KHMH, they were told that he had succumbed.
Now, Baeza's mother is left devastated, demanding justice for her eldest son. She told us today that she had been waiting at home for him, only to be told sometime after 10pm that her son had been brutalized.
Mother of Victim
"He asks me for some coffee and told me he was going to buy tacos or fried chicken and I was waiting for my baby and he didn't reach. Some officer came and gave me the news that my son is at the hospital. He was passing and a BDF soldier ask for a lighter and the quarrel started off the lighter. The BDF isn't supposed to hurt another human, because that's not the discipline he was trained with. He isn't supposed to treat my son like a dog, he was just supposed to go his own way. The pain I have in my heart for my son, I want justice for my son."
"He lends the BDF the lighter and the BDF gave 2 other persons the lighter and that's when my son said give me the lighter and its right then they started to fight and like how the solder is bigger and more fit than my son who is small, the BDF should have backed off. He punched him, threw him on the ground, he stomped him in his throat, he stomp his face, burst his head, burst his throat, he couldn't breathe. He pushed him down on the ground and that burst his head. My son works at a place where they packed clothes, he is the only one who use to give me a little money every week. He use to help me because I am old already. I would like to ask the BDF to give me the weekly money my son use to give me to help myself. I believe in God, I am not like him who hurt my son."
According to a press release from the Belize Defence Force, Williams, who was stationed at Colonel Eyles Camp in Orange Walk Town, has been detained by the police pending charges. The release adds that the Commander BDF is committed to facilitating the police during their investigation and sends condolences to the Baeza family.
