AMEN
I wrote a letter to the editor years ago begging to stop the rotation of police and have them become a part of the community. I argued that if their spouse and children lived in the community they would have a lot more invested in maintaining a crime free invironments. We need to push for this.

Family wants answers about Boco T’s death

The death of Kevin ‘Boco T’ Kelly is not only causing grief for his family, it is also stirring up ill will towards the system, which it feels is preventing them from burying their loved one. Boco T was the second person to drop dead within two months at the San Pedro Police Formation. Though no mention was made of any injuries other than a scratch; his common law wife, his mother and aunt all came to our studios to claim that his body was bruised.

Lorna Wade, Common Law Wife of Kevin ‘Boco T’ Kelly

“This morning me and Kevin’s mother and aunt went to the morgue. And when we reach dah the morgue, the man tell we that we can’t do nothing to the body and we can’t see the body because it is a police case and the police from San Pedro have to give the ok. So right now, Kevin dead from Thursday and we wah bury ahn but we can’t get the chance to bury him because they noh do the autopsy yet. As weh I say, they just bring him from San Pedro, put him in morgue like wa piece ah dutty meat, they noh contact his mother, they noh contact me and he does live with me. How we get fi know that Kevin deh dah the morgue is through somebody weh come and tell we oh dehn done bring ahn dah the morgue. No police noh contacted us any at all.”

Jose Sanchez

“People out there on the island are saying that he was even beaten. Were you able to see his body to verify if he had bruises?”

Joan Kelly, Mother of Kevin ‘Boco T’ Kelly

“Yes because when they said that a body come in at the morgue, police did not notify us or anything, but we went to the morgue and we took a look at him and he had bruise over his head, bruise deh all pan ih shoulders and ih neck deh pan sideway.”

Jose Sanchez

“Is there anything that you can do at this point? Do you plan to get your own doctor to do an autopsy? Is there anything that the family intends to do since there does seems to be suspicion about the circumstances of his death?”

Maylene Kelly, Aunt of Kevin ‘Boco T’ Kelly

“I’m the aunt, but right now we are trying to do the best that we can do for him because Kevin has family. At least they could have come and contact fi we family because we don’t know nothing. They just bring him at put him in morgue. We want to know what happened and what caused his death. He wasn’t a sick person. The news put that he had a seizure. He never troubled with seizures. He wasn’t a sickly person. We want some answers. That is what we want. We want them to come forth and give we some answers and make we try put fi we family to rest. Kevin has a family, he has a daughter, he has grandchildren and we don’t like what is happening. Nobody contacted us; look how long—from Thursday. He not a piece of dead dog; he has family. And we noh like the situation weh happen; nobody come to us. And then when we go there nobody can’t do anything because they say it’s a police case. So we are still waiting and the family is devastated.”

Lorna Wade

“And tomorrow will be a holiday. So we can’t do nothing. So we mi di plan fi bury ahn on Wednesday, but we have to postpone until further notice because we can’t do nothing because up to yet we noh get no answers from the police.”

After leaving our studios, the women went to seek an audience with an attorney.

Channel 5

As cops make friends in a new station those friends give them money.
They develop a girlfriend who has family. That family wants a break for their nephew who cant stay out of trouble.
Local hires already have family sometimes numbering in the hundreds.
It gives that family a lot of power if they have several cops on the force.At some point you get to be afraid of all memebers of that family since they can have you arrested or beaten anytime.
This is the situation all over the third world, esp Mexico and Columbia.
I think SP needs a private security company that is well trained and works closely with the police. Cant trust any particular officers competence or honesty? He has a boss who can fire him on the spot if the clients dont trust him.The boss has a strong economic motive to do this.

Thanks Dane for explaining why the GoB does not want to have "homegrown" assignments for police. Well said.

And I agree - the private force would be super - in fact I understand that there is a plan afoot for such a program in San Pedro. If it can be implemented it can help us all and probably go a long way to keeping the regular police on track as well.

Family Can't Bury Boco-T

38 year old Kevin Kelly, known as BOCO-T died 6 days ago in the custody of San Pedro police - and his family still hasn't laid him to rest.

And that's because they say the police are not cooperating. No post mortem has been held for Kelly and the police are dismissing the family.

They expressed their frustration to us today:

Joan Kelly - Mother of Deceased
"No police have come to me. Nobody has come and told me anything from the time I heard he died. I went to the morgue because the body came in from caye. No police has come to tell me anything up to this day."

Lorna Wade - Common Law Wife of Deceased
"It's going for a week that Kevin died, and we know nothing at all. I went to the police station this morning, and the police were treating me like I'm a child. The officer shouted at me, and asked me if I wanted him personally to conduct the post mortem. No, I need answers. Right now, we don't care about what happened. We just want to bury Kevin."

Lincoln Kelly - Brother of Deceased
"We already got a bad deal from the system because they haven't even come and notified us that my brother died. And now, when we are trying to get the autopsy done, we are facing more problems from the same police. So, right now, we don't know where to turn; we are stressed out, and we are frustrated."

Jules Vasquez
"Why haven't they done a post-mortem?"

Joan Kelly
"They say that they are waiting for the police from San Pedro. We got Karim Musa to try to locate this police, and we still haven't gotten any answers up to now. We are still waiting to try to bury him. What are they doing to us? They don't want us to bury our loved-one. They are keeping us back."

Lincoln Kelly
"The culture of Belize is that this is the way that things run. Once you are a small-time person, and you don't have connection with 'big peoples', nothing happens for you. It looks like you have to go through things the rough way."

Lorna Wade "This is a big minister's nephew. Kevin Kelly is Finnegan's nephew. This is a big minister's nephew, come on. We are asking at least that somebody tries to do something because we want to bury him. We need to put to put him to rest."

Channel 7

Family Says: Cops Murdered Boco-T

Well-known city resident, Kevin Kelly known as Boco-T died in police custody 12 days ago - and his post mortem was just performed today.

For his family - which has been waiting nearly two weeks to bury the 38 year old father of 3, it is an outrage heaped upon a tragedy - and when they found out the cause of death today - that outrage hardened into bitter resentment.

They today told us that the post mortem identified his cause of death as internal bleeding due to Abdominal, trauma due to blunt instrument type.

Now, that's major news because the unofficial police story was that he may have died from a broken neck which he could have suffered when he jumped a fence running from San Pedro Police last week Thursday night.

But the post mortem - as the family reads it - suggests that some blunt instrument caused the bleeding which led to his death. His common-law-wife and brother told us that they believe he was murdered by police:..

Lorna Wade - Common Law Wife of Deceased
"I am not satisfied with the results. As what the police said that Kevin climbed a fence and broke his neck - he didn't break his neck, the autopsy showed that there is no broken neck and no overdose or nothing."

"The autopsy showed that he died from internal bleeding."

Monica Bodden
"Did any police officer came to you all and gave you some sort of information about what happened in San Pedro?"

Lorna Wade
"Up to now neither I nor his mother any police approach about this. I believe that they knew they were covering up that why they took so long to do the autopsy. Up to now no police came."

"Right now we are seeking information and we are getting a lawyer because we really want to find out what happened and to get to the bottom of how he died. Until we speak to our lawyer, then we will have more information to share to the public, but we have to deal with our lawyer first."

"Everybody should expect that I will be angry because he wasn't a sick person, they stated that he suffered from fits. The reason why we are more angry is because they took so long to do this autopsy. They know that they had something hide. That's why they took so long."

"His family and friends through Majestic Alley are frustrated because everybody knew Boco. Yes, he wasn't an angel, but he wasn't a dog for them to just kill him and throw him in the morgue without telling us anything. I, his mother nor his brother knew anything."

"We got this result from Dr. Estradabran and still no police came to visit us."

Lincoln Kelly - Brother of Deceased
"We are not satisfied with the outcome. From the autopsy we can see how he died. The story that they gave earlier about how he fell and broke his neck - the autopsy is not saying anything about his neck. The autopsy is saying that he got hyper-volume shock and abdominal trauma, so how can you fall on your neck and the autopsy is saying that."

"We believe, and before we were hearing rumors from people who lives in San Pedro who knows us tells us that police detain my brother and shock him up and throw water on him and kill him. The autopsy just proves that to me now."

"Like what his common-law wife says 'we want justice.!'"

The family says they will take legal action against police.

The long-delayed funeral for Kelly will be held on Thursday at St. Mary's Church.

Channel 7

On Tuesday 8th May, 2012 Dr. Mario Estradabran conducted a post mortem examination on the body of Kevin Kelly, where at the conclusion the certified cause of death was Hypervolemic shock due to internal bleeding, due to multiple abdominal trauma, due to blunt instrument type. Police continues to investigate.

More questions than answers into Boco-T’s death

On Thursday May 10th, Kevin ‘Boco-T’ Kelly was finally laid to rest at the Lord Ridge Cemetery in Belize City. His family firmly believes that police are responsible for Kelly’s death, even more so after the post mortem that was just issued indicates that he bled to death.

Kelly’s death is not by natural cause but is as a result of injuries inflicted on him or received as a result of an accident.

Lincoln Kelly, brother of the deceased explained to the media that “We are not satisfied with the outcome. From the autopsy we can see how he died. The story that they gave earlier about how he fell, fainted and died is not what the autopsy is saying. We believe, and before, we were hearing rumors from people who lives in San Pedro who knows us tells us that police detain my brother and shock him up and throw water on him and kill him. The autopsy just proves that to me now.”

According to the Officer in Charge of the San Pedro Police Department, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Vienie Robinson the investigation is being conducted by personnel from the Criminal Investigation Unit (CIB) and Internal Affairs Officers of the Police Department. ASP Robinson said that by allowing CIB and Internal Affairs it “will eliminate any suspicion” that SP police have anything to hide. “If any of the police are guilty of any wrong doing regarding this case, they will be charged,” emphasized ASP Robinson. There is no indicating if the matter will be treated as an accident or a homicide but according to police, the investigation continues.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

12 days until postmortem; Widow alleges foul play during incarceration

Kevin ‘Boco T’ Kelly died inside a cell at the San Pedro Police Formation on April twenty-sixth. His body was transferred to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital morgue but he had not been laid to rest because the family was awaiting an autopsy for twelve days. On Tuesday that examination was finally carried out by Doctor Mario Estradabran, whose contract with the Ministry of Police is under negotiation. This afternoon the police department released the official report citing the cause of death as “Hypervolemic shock due to internal bleeding; due to multiple abdominal trauma, and due to a blunt instrument.” What it does not say is that Boco T was in police custody at the time of his death and whether or not there is a murder investigation with the guidance of Internal Affairs. We tried to speak to the press officer on who are the investigating officers, and if any police officers stationed in San Pedro are the subject of that investigation, but he did not return our calls. Police originally claimed that Boco T had escaped from custody following a robbery and fell on his face after scaling two fences. He was recaptured on the threat of being shot. News Five was able to reach Boco T’s widow, Lorna Wade who believes he was murdered.

Lorna Wade, Widow of Kevin ‘Boco T’ Kelly

“When they done, Dr. Estradabran send the paper out to me and then stated that Boco no died from broken neck or no died from any overdose; that he died in the custody of the police—trauma to the stomach and internal bleeding.”

Jose Sanchez

“Trauma to the stomach and internal bleeding. Did anyone say from the San Pedro Police Formation how that may have happened?”

Lorna Wade

“Up to now as I’ve stated, no police come talk to me yet. They still no tell we why they detain him. We just the hear lee things, just rumors on the street, but up to yet no police talk to me or the mother.”

Jose Sanchez

“Now this sounds like something for internal affairs. Have you spoken to any police about investigating those officers out there?”

Lorna Wade

“Well right now we di talk to our lawyer, Kareem Musa. He wa do wah private investigation to the police. He gwen out to San Pedro and find out more or less weh he could gather up because we di look fi do wah sue to sue the police because why they take so long to do the autopsy. We believe they mi have something fi hide and not the doctor report confirm that probably Boco get several beating and that’s why ih mi di bleed inside.”

Jose Sanchez

“Now just for putting it into perspective, his case is the second case of a person at least they were saying just fainting or just drop down and died. Does that also concern you that there is something more happening in that department?”

Lorna Wade

“On the street I hear that they banned Boco already from the island and he neva come in. So I believe that dah something that they meant to do to him because as weh I say, I mi just wish maybe if they mi bring him, detain him, and charge him for a crime that they said he commit. But don’t kill him and hib ahn dah morgue without report nothing to we. Me nor ih family noh know nothing until somebody come and tell we oh ih body done deh dah more. Police still no come to us and say well Miss Wade or Miss Kelly, we have Kevin Kelly’s body at the morgue.”

Jose Sanchez

“Do you think he was killed?”

Lorna Wade

“As me and ih family says, when we notice Kevin body, we know ih mi bruise so we know that they beat him. And the young man that was with Kevin on the island said he notice they di throw water and the taze him—shock him up—and several people say they see when they mi di beat Kevin. That lead up to they di kill ahn noh.”

Jose Sanchez

“Boco’s children, his family that he is leaving behind, how have they been doing without having their provider around?”

Lorna Wade

“Well right now as we said, he used to look after ih three daughters and right now I have my children them and he used to help me out. So I don’t know weh we wah do. So when it comes to his funeral we di ask if anyone could assist us because due to the police holding the body so long, we could not get around to anybody helping us because they tell we they need the death certificate. But being now that it is twelve days since ih body on this earth, we have to hurry do something weh we could do. We di ask if anybody could assist us.”

If you would like to assist Wade, you can call her at 651-0178 or make a deposit to her Belize Bank Account number at 2025666. Wade says that Boco T’s funeral will take place on Thursday afternoon at Saint Mary’s Church.

Channel 5

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Was Boco-T Beaten To Death?

Was Kevin Kelly, known as Boco-T, beaten to death by police? That's what his family believes after a post mortem examination confirmed that he died of, quote, "Hypovolemic shock due to internal bleeding, due to multiple abdominal trauma, due to blunt instrument type."

Today, we spoke to the Police Press Office, Inspector Fitzroy Yearwood, who told us that he will refrain from speaking publicly about the matter because the investigation is still in its early stages.

He did assure us that this matter is under acute observation because of the circumstances of Kelly's death.

He said that if he were to issue a statement now, if charges are brought against any of the police officers under investigation, they could foreseeably use the comments to get acquitted.

Sounds like bush lawyer medicine to us, but he said that he won't comment in the interest of the family.

That family is calling it police murder - which they had to wait almost two full weeks to confirm - because the police forensic pathologist Dr. Mario Estradabran's contract expired in February.

Kelly died in custody of San Pedro police on the night of Thursday April 26th. The cops said he was wanted for questioning for a robbery.

According to the San Pedro Sun, police chased him behind the Four Sister Plaza on Pescador Drive, where several shots were fired at him. He was later apprehended behind a yard on Angel Coral Street. Police said that he started fainting and showed difficulty breathing, from the time they apprehended him. His family says he was systematically beaten and tortured with a taser gun.

Kelly is the second person to die in custody of San Pedro police in less than two months.

The crimes Investigation Branch and the Internal Affairs Office is now investigating his death.

As regards the backed up post mortem examinations - nine out of eleven outstanding autopsies have now been completed since Monday. The remaining two will be done tomorrow.

Estradabran's contract is in its final revision and is being forwarded to him for his approval. The Ministry of National Security expects that the contract should be signed by tomorrow.

Channel 7

Errata: This should be hypovolemic shock not "hyper". Lack of blood pressure due to inadequate blood volume aka "hemmorhagic shock"...