Tonight, a Belize City family is in distress after their teenage daughter was seriously injured in what appears to be a random and senseless act of violence.
The victim is Kadaijah Cruz, a 14-year-old high schooler. Yesterday, shortly after getting off a bus, she was walking when an unknown young man ran up to her. He then slashed her left cheek with a knife for no apparent reason or warning.
The cut was deep, and the doctors who looked after the injuries had to give her 13 stitches to close the wound. Her family believes that although there were eyewitnesses, the police investigators may be able to find surveillance camera footage from the area to help them identify the mystery assailant.
Today, her grandmother stopped by our office to make a public plea to the police to exhaust all efforts to bring the culprit to justice. Here's what she told us:
Laura Mae Mortis, Grandmother of the Victim
"My granddaughter, she said that she came off the bus yesterday morning about 7am and while walking by the roundabout she says a young man came up to her and slit her in her face and then she started to cry and then people were around who saw what happened and police came by same time and got her and took her to the emergency. The police man called and say that he will try to get the young man that did it to my granddaughter. From then I haven't heard anything from the officer."
Reporter
"What are you concerned about in terms of them not probably exhausting or going as best as they can to find this person? You think that there might be cameras in the area that could help?"
Laura Mae Mortis, Grandmother of the Victim
"Definitely, they have cameras that could help. I just hope and pray that they view the camera and find the person who did this."
Reporter
"Ma'am, talk to us about the injuries that your granddaughter experienced. We saw that she required a number of stiches."
Laura Mae Mortis, Grandmother of the Victim
"She got 16 stiches."
Laura Mae Mortis tells us that her granddaughter is a quiet and shy girl who keeps mostly to herself. That's partly why they have no idea why she was attacked.
