Yesterday, we told you about 29-year-old Matthew Smith who was fatally stabbed on Independence Day. According to police, he had gotten into a fight the day before, and that carried over to the next day when those who he had been fighting with killed him at the corner of Savannah and Karen Streets in San Ignacio.
And yesterday, you heard from a close friend of his who said that he had moved to Cayo about two years ago in hopes of bettering his life and that of his child's. And today, his family is also speaking out. His stepsister, with whom he was raised, told us that the news left them distraught, however, she admitted that he did have anger management issues, which may have led to the fights.
Here's what she said:
Voice of: Abiyana, Stepsister of Deceased
"I saw it on Facebook but they had Maxwell Smith and I didn't want to believe it was my brother until when the W find his social and information with me in his pocket, that was when they called me and gave me the bad news."
"It hurt me bad, you know that the person that he was to me, very caring brother, while we sick or anything always is there for us. Well, I won't say he's a saint, he has a temper, we understand his temper because like I told you, we were raised together, but at times he do get ignorant."
"He won't take thing from nobody, he do have a temper, he won't leave anybody to chance him and while growing up, he been through a lot in his life, been through a lot. People always try to chance him and different thing and he's not a person that will just sit there and take that, he will always try fight back."
"For like six months he didn't come home, we didn't have any contact for six months due to some difficulties in life that everybody go through and that's what makes it hurt us bad, because he never did get the chance to come home."
"To be honest I know here in Belize, I have eight brothers including him, and here in Belize life is unfair to them, life is really unfair. I have one that is already dead by gun violence on Plues Street, I don't know if you remember Stephan Bowen, he died innocently and now Matthew Smith."
And since then, one person has been arrested for Smith's death. Police today charged 22-year-old Christian Alexander Kelly for the crime of murder.
