And in news of another murder...
On Friday we told you about the body of a man found off the Santa Rita Road in Corozal, apparently murdered.
Tonight, we know he is 21 year old Romulo Antonio Barillas - a construction Worker of Trial Farm.
Police believe he was killed by his own co-worker. Jomarie Lanza reports:
On Friday Afternoon police scrambled to detain a murder suspect not far from the scene of the crime off Santa Rita Road.
He is 26 year old Pablo Deras, a Salvadoran national who had been drinking with 21 year old Romulo Barillas when they left their job at a construction site in Corozal Town on Friday morning.
ACP Hilberto Romero, OC Eastern Division
"On Friday the second day of February 2024 police responded to 3rd Street in the Corozal district where they found the lifeless body of Romulo Barillas 21 with several chop wounds, information is that Barillas was in the area drinking along with another male person and thereafter his body was found with the injuries. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An investigation was carried out and we have since arrested and charged Pablo Deras 26 years for the crime of murder."
Reporter
"That's the person he was drinking with?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, OC Eastern Division
"That is the person he was drinking with yes correct. They knew each other they were drinking and this person inflicted the chop wounds."
Evidence shows that the murder occurred not too far from the roadside, down a picado road, in between some bushes, where garbage is scattered amongst the drops of blood on the ground. Reports suggest that the machete used to fatally chop Barillas was also recovered:
ACP Hilberto Romero, OC Eastern Division
"Yes they were working and then they began to consume alcoholic beverages and then they ended up in that bushy area."
Jules Vasquez
"So it might have just been a drunken altercation?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, OC Eastern Division
"Something to that effect yes."
Jules Vasquez
"Sir you all recovered a machete?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, OC Eastern Division
"I am not sure will have to check on that."
Jules Vasquez
"And then the suspect was found in the immediate area?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, OC Eastern Division
"He was found in Corozal yes correct."
Courtney Menzies
"Is he cooperating?"
ACP Hilberto Romero, OC Eastern Division
"He had been charged so we have sufficient evidence to charge him."
According to the mother of the deceased, her son had been working with the construction company for 6 years.
