And from one tragedy to another - each infinitely sad…a Belmopan family is in the throes of grief after a robber callously killed one of their young siblings on his way home from the bus terminal. 18-year-old Leroy Cus was moving up fast in his career, trying to save anything he could to buy the equipment he needed to make his name as a graphic designer.
But last night, his possessions and his life were robbed from him. And the body of the promising young man laid lifeless in an area residents say is prone to robberies.
Courtney Menzies spoke with Cus' brother today, and has this story.
18-year-old Leroy Cus had a bright future ahead of him - he'd just started working as a graphic designer at Brodies and his passion for his craft was evident to those closest to him. But last night, his dreams were snatched away after he was targeted by a robber while walking home from the bus terminal. The robber pounced on him, stabbing him multiple times before taking his belongings and fleeing the scene. And his brother told us today that they'd begun to suspect something was wrong when he was taking too long to get home.
Voice of: Virgilio Cus, Brother of Deceased
"I waited until 8:00 and he still didn't show up, so I called 12 times, after 12 times, I realize something is not right, so I went to go look for him. I know the route he takes so I traced back the route, me and my other brother traced back the route. And just on the Central Walkway, I found his body facing down with his right hand on his chest, he had a stab wound in that area, back of his head, his neck, his hand, he had about five to six stab wounds in his left hand, he was holding his debit card from Belize Bank. That's when I called the police."
And as his little brother, young Leroy Cus looked up to him, and so Leroy Cus taught him everything he knew about graphic design - which helped Leroy to launched into his career at only 18 years old.
Voice of: Virgilio Cus, Brother of Deceased
"We were very close, I taught him graphic design, he wanted to be like me and do graphic design, I do web development, video editing, he wanted to follow the same footsteps so I taught him graphic design last year around his same time and in January of 2022, actually February, he got his job at Brodies here in Belmopan but to work in the warehouse and three months after that, he transferred to Belize City for graphic designer. He is a hardworking person, a happy person, and every day he would run jokes, he's always laughing, he's very happy, he's committed, he's willing to work, every day after work when he comes home I would usually ask him how's your day, what all you did today, and he would tell me, I did this, I did that, and he would ask me what you think about it, if [he] needed improvement with [his] work, and I usually would help him with that, I told him what to do and what to fix and that's like almost every day I do that with him."
And those memories of a dedicated younger brother are all Cus has left - and the grief amongst him and his other siblings was palpable - especially since they'd been expecting to celebrate his birthday with him.
Voice of: Virgilio Cus, Brother of Deceased
"It's very horrific, words can't explain the way how we feel, I mean, he's really young, he's just starting his career, he would have been 19 this October 4th and we were already trying to make plans for his birthday and he's trying to save up to buy a MacBook for him to start to work on his own, try to enhance his skills and it's just sad that they took it away from him. I think he did try to fight for his life, I know he did fight for his life, that's why they murdered him."
Cus said he wasn't aware of the dangers of that area until after his brother was killed.
And the National Student Union of Belize issued a press release conveying with shock, sadness and fright at the news of Leroy Cus' murder. According to the release, many UB students have been harassed and robbed in that very same area. They also took it a step further and said that these recent activities have had a negative effect on UB's reputation and that the national university is considered one of the most dangerous campuses in Belize. The release says that the repeated violence has affected students' willingness to attend classes in person and so they gave some suggestions for how to make the area a little safer for students.
They're asking to increase the number of live security and police officers off campus and to increase the routes and frequencies of university shuttles.
