They were killed in a helicopter crash four years ago, and now the government of Belize has been ordered to compensate the families of Corporal Yassir Mendez and Corporal Reynaldo Choco a combined total of over $760,000 dollars.

The incident occurred on February 27, 2020 when the corporals went on a mission with Majors Adran Ramirez and Radford Baizar. The families of Ramirez and Baizar settled out of court, but for the past 3 years, Attorney Audrey Matura has been battling it out for her clients.

The government had initially offered only $100,000 for each. But after the ruling on October 11th, Mendez's family was awarded $428,472 and Choco's family received $331,226.

Today, our court reporter spoke to Matura about the challenges the families face fighting for this compensation.

Audrey Matura, Attorney
"At the start, the government had promised compensation, government changed, we had to file a claim within the one year period limitation under the Tort Act which gives us 12 months within which after the death within which for us to file for wrongful death. We filed that and then there was a lot of back and forth, on the 12th of April 2022, the government finally accepted liability. They said, we don't have to go to trial, we agree, we are liable for their death in negligence. However, what we could not agree on was the quantum of damages, the quantum of compensation. So from April 2022 to October 2024, there was a lot of filing of documents, but most of it was legal submissions to the court. Intuit process, the case went through the hands of three different judges and the final judge to make the judge to make the ruling was Justice Tawanda Hondora who gave a very well written and well reasoned out decision, a 36 page decision where he explained how he arrived at the decision and in essence what happened, he ruled that yes these people are entitled to compensation, combined the families got over $700,000 in compensation, but broken down for different parties, different individuals, different dependents according to the law. Of course we can't say it's a done deal because the government has the right to appeal, they have 21 days from the order of the court to then appeal."

"Honestly I've been representing and working with the families from the day these young men died. And I must say that I admire them because of their patience, their resilience, they have been through a lot of personal hardships that they don't speak of publicly, they've been waiting for this ruling. Imagine over 4 years and you still can't bring this to full closure. Like in the case of the Mendez family, he left behind two young children who the mother says still ask when will their dad come home and she has had to be the one how to figure out to maintain these children because he was the sole breadwinner. In the case of the Choco family, his wife and him and a had for their plan, all of that was placed on hold in terms of their career development, their own family development, and she too, her whole life has changed. So personally they have suffered a lot of pain and in terms of losing their main breadwinner, it has been very hard on them. So of course they welcome this decision with much glee"

The claimants sued for loss of financial support, special damages, and damages on behalf of the estates of the deceased soldiers. The compensation includes loss of life expectancy, pre-trial earnings, and future potential earnings. The court also considered the soldiers' age, qualifications, and potential for promotion in its decision.

The government has 60 days after the ruling to pay the compensation.