7 News Belize

Two Die When Drunk Driver Crashes Into River
posted (October 8, 2018)
3 Belizeans - two of them teenagers - lost their lives in the Cayo District over the weekend. 2 drowned in the Mopan River after a terrible crash, and the other was murdered in a bizarre fashion at the Cahal Pech Archaeological Site in San Ignacio.

We begin tonight's newscast with the double tragedy of the sisters from Succotz, 26 year-old Cindy Cowo, and 16 year-old Liarinette Cowo. On Friday night, they left from their family's home for a night out in nearby Benque Viejo Town. They were in the company of a family friend, 53 year-old Carlos Martinez. The last thing the family heard was that they were having a plate of ceviche in the early morning hours of Saturday.

The family woke up the next morning to the horrifying news that Martinez lost control of his vehicle, which ran into the river not far from their home. He escaped before it sunk to the bottom, but the 2 sisters weren't so lucky. Their bodies were found at the rear of the SUV, where they were huddled, trying to escape through the back.

Martinez was reportedly under the influence, and he passed out at the scene of the accident, which happened at around 4 a.m. He didn't inform the parents of the 2 sisters until about 3 hours later, long after they had already drowned.

It's a tragedy that has the family in deep pain, and asking a lot of questions. Today, our news team caught up with them in Succotz Village. Daniel Ortiz has that story:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
The bodies of 26 year-old Cindy Cowo, and her young sister, 16 year-old Liarinette, were pulled out of this vehicle, a Toyota Rav 4, which plunged into the river, experienced a massive impact, and ended up overturned in the Mopan River. What should have been just another night of socializing between Cindy Cowo and 53 year-old Carlos Martinez, turned into a double tragedy for the Cowo family.

We're told that Martinez had romantic interests in Cindy, and had been close to her and the family for a while.

Maciel Cowo - Sister of the Deceased
"He always comes every Sunday when she is gets off from work - he would bring her. Friday night about 9pm he came here and was talking to my father and asked my dad permission to take them to go buy. My father agreed and they went and around 12:30 they took my little sibling. My father woke up at 2:30 in the morning and he didn't see the girls. My father told my mom to call her (Cindy). My mom called him and he passed the phone to Cindy and told her to hurry, because it was too late to be out. She says they will go right now. My mom went to sleep and like 5 in the morning my father woke up again and told my mom that his daughters are not here and my mom called him, but he never answered."

It was about 3 hours or so later that Martinez showed up to the house, with a story that the family didn't understand.

Maciel Cowo "Like 7 in the morning he came and he said that he fell asleep and that they fall in the river. He said he doesn't know what happened."

"My mom start crying and we called the police."

Martinez reported to police that he lost control of the vehicle, and it ran down the side of this hill, off the road, and into the river. He managed to get out of the submerging vehicle in time. The thing that puzzles the family the most is that he escaped unhurt, with not a single scratch on him.

For them, the most outrageous aspect of this tragedy was that he did not try to rescue the sisters, and neither did he go to get them help.

Police have since charged him with driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit, and driving without due care and attention. It is believed that he was too incapacitated by his alcohol consumption to be of any actual help.

All this happened less than 10 minutes from their family home in Succotz.

Maciel Cowo
"The thing is we don't understand is how is he alive and they are dead? We think that he did it intentionally."

Whether or not that's the truth, this family lost 2 loved ones in this avoidable accident:

Maciel Cowo
"We are very hurt. We don't understand what, how this could be happening to us. It was not one, but two persons that he killed. How didn't he rescued one at least? We don't understand how he being a pastor at 54 years old - it was the responsibility for him to take care of her and he didn't do it. He had the responsibility and my father trusted him. Both of them were happy. They liked to dance a lot. They were good sisters."

"We want justice, because two persons - he could have helped them. In the night car passes and in front there was a houses. Why didn't he go and asked for help? Or he could have come and tell us at the time it happened. But he waited until 7am in the morning. In the news, it says that it happened at 4am. And he waited 3 hours to come and tell us."

It is believed that Carlos Martinez was driving the sisters back to their home, and he veered across the road, into the opposite lane, and then down the hill, into the River.

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