Last night, we brought you the heart-wrenching story of Vanessa Reyes, the single mother of three who over the Easter weekend survived a knife attack by her former partner Christon Rocha.
As we told you, Rocha remains on the run tonight and, until then, Vanessa has no choice but to hide out stuck in a safe house, separated from her children, and disenfranchised from supporting herself and her family.
But tonight, we're looking more closely at the viral video that put the public firmly in Vanessa's corner, the shocking imagery of a deranged Christon Rocha carrying out a murderous attack on the mother of his children.
At the start of the shocking video, Christon Roca has Vanessa Reyes in a chokehold.
He's tries violently to pull her toward him but she holds on to the building's railing
A moment later when she releases it you can see that she's on high alert doing everything she can to protect herself from the ongoing attack
But that's when he stabs her; it might look like a punch, but on closer inspection, he has a knife clutched in his hand.
And stabs her again in quick succession. She's ultimately wounded once in the chin and once in the temple.
And As he steps back you can see him still clutching the knife.
It's perhaps what tangles him in the caution tape as he retreats from the cellphone camera that captured the entire attack.
Tonight almost two weeks after the attack Vanessa Reyes is more than ready to be done hiding.
Vanessa Reyes, Victim of Domestic violence
"Being in the safe house, it's crazy, it's like you're in the safe house and when you look around all day, nothing to do I mean missing who I used to be. Missing my kids dearly it's not a. It's a crazy feeling because I look around now and I say sometimes maybe he walks up to where I am you know and it's kind of crazy to be in a safe house knowing that I had a life out here and I want to be back to normal with my life."
But she'll only have a chance at normal when her assailant is put behind bars.
Vanessa Harriet Reyes, Victim of Domestic violence
"All I want him is to be caught and to be put where he belongs."
"For the sake of my kids, I want to be in my bed with my kids, I want to hug them, I want to love them and say goodnight to them. I want to get up in the mroning, make breakfast for them, get back to my work. Thats what I want to do. I want my piece of mind back, that's what I want."
Any sighting of Christon Rocha should be reported to the authorities using the P3APP or 922tips Crime stoppers hotline.
And in the aftermath of "a series of vicious gender-based violence incidents, one which resulted in the death of Tracy Thompson," Belize's National Women's Commission has put out a call to reduce the stigma around this issue.
For their part, they pledge to Increase awareness and educational campaigns on how to get help, revamp and re-socialize the referral pathways available to victims, and continue educational intervention programs to challenge discriminatory attitudes and beliefs.
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