7 News Belize

Cabbie Killed In OW
posted (May 4, 2020)
There was a Sunday evening killing near Orange Walk Town. It happened just before 6:00. 54-year-old Mathias Alpuche, a taxi driver from Trial Farm village, had picked up a fare and was headed down Honey Camp Road when he was viciously attacked, likely by that very passenger. Cherisse Halsall went to Trial Farm Village to find out more:

It was early Sunday evening when the usual peace and tranquility of Honey Camp Road was shattered by the skidding of a swerving car.

An eyewitness told CTV3 what she saw as the car lurched down the road:

Voice of: Eyewitness
"The taxi man came out of the car and he went at the back of the car and then he took out the bike and he fling the bike so the bike almost touched the fence, and then we saw the young man, because it's a young guy, he came out and he took the bike and we shouted at him because we wanted them to know that we're seeing it and he went on the bike. He took the bike and he went, and then afterwards the taxi man got in the car and he spin back and he drove but then they came back and they told us so that we could go and see because the taxi man was over there dead but then I said how will he be dead if the guy just went that side."

"So we went to see and we saw the man in the car bleeding out that was when we called the police."

"At first we thought that the guy didn't have money to pay the taxi man and the taxi man was angry and threw away his bike but we didn't know that he had already stabbed him. Everything that we see know looks like the guy already stabbed him and maybe he was fighting because I hear that he was at the backseat so maybe he was fighting because the guy had stabs to his right side so I guess that maybe he was at the backseat stabbing the man and maybe they were fighting for the wheel because he went all in the yard he was swerving the car was swerving so maybe that was what happened."

"When I went I went right in front of the guy and the car was still on and it was on drive. He didn't want us to touch him but he was still breathing."

"He had a stab wound to his chin but I didn't notice that he was stabbed all in his chest. We tried to help him but we didn't want to touch the body."

Alpuche succumbed to his injuries. And while the killing of an on-duty taxi driver is always shocking - for his family, it is incomprehensible: an unsuspecting and defenceless working man - sliced up by a rogue passenger.

Alpuche's Sister says his murder seems to have taken place in the blink of an eye.

Minellia Perrera, Sister of the deceased
"He had just left his common-law wife. He left his common-law wife at 5:20 that is what we are trying to piece together because of he at 5:20 he left her house and all of a sudden the police told me that 5:52 they receive a call that they had already killed him."

"He was a very very very loving person because once we had a little misunderstanding but when he came to me he said sister let's forget about it and he hugged me and he asked me for pardon. That was what he was. And he was always looking for his, he was a taxi man and he was always finding job to make ends meet. This was not the way he should have ended."

"He had two children and four grandchildren which he loved very much and he was there with them that he was. He went two o'clock with them and then afterward he went. He left at 5:20 he left their home just to be killed. And I think it's because of this mask that a lot of Taxi men are saying we have to use masks and we don't know sometimes who is the person that is under that mask."

A sinister outcome of what's supposed to be a health and safety measure. And equally frustrating for the family is the fact that, at present, authorities have no leads.

Joseph Myvette, ACP
"Police are conducting an investigation into this matter at this time. We also know that he does his taxi runs from the queen victoria avenue area somewhere in the vicinity of the town hall so we are on the ground at this time since the incident. Still on the ground trying to continue with the investigation. At this time we do not have any suspect in our custody and we do not have a motive as yet."

Alpuche leaves behind 2 children and four grandchildren.

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