Police's Second Post-Mortem Confirms Boco - T Beaten to Death

Today - exactly two weeks after he died in police custody - the funeral was held at St, Mary's Church in Belize City for Kevin Kelly, known as Boco-T.

As we've been reporting, a post mortem examination conducted by Dr. Mario Estradabran on Tuesday showed that he died of, quote "internal bleeding, due to multiple abdominal trauma, due to blunt instrument type" - which basically means, he appears to have been beaten to death - possibly with a club or boots.

That contrasted sharply with the original police account, which was that he may have broken his neck when he jumped a high fence while eluding arrest. It is a huge and consequential difference - and to make sure it is so - the police did a most unusual thing last night: they had a second post mortem done by a second doctor.

Now that is absolutely unheard of - but the second post mortem, which lasted from 6:00 pm to 8:45 pm and was conducted by Dr. Hugh Sanchez confirmed Estradabran's findings.

So, today, the police department - already embarrassed by the long time it took to get the post mortem done - have to go another humiliating step forward and launch an investigation into what appears to be a wrongful death.

Minister of National Security John Saldivar discussed it with us today:..

Hon. John Saldivar - Minister of National Security
"We therefore have now intensified our investigation into this matter to determine what exactly took place leading to the death of Mr. Kelly and we have placed all the officers who were around when this was happening - we've placed them on interdiction while the investigation is proceeding."

Jules Vasquez
"The family has called it "police murder." Are you all willing to entertain the possibility that the police officers can be charged for murder? We know it's very unusual because they do they stuff in the line of duties, so to speak."

Hon. John Saldivar - Minister of National Security
"We will conduct our investigation and whosoever is found culpable will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Jules Vasquez
"I certainly cannot impugn on the professional conduct of Dr. Estradabran but is it that you all second guess his opinion because it's very unusual, perhaps unprecedented or there are a couple precedents only for a two post mortems to be conducted."

Hon. John Saldivar - Minister of National Security
"I think you will appreciate the magnitude of the results of the autopsy and certainly as minister I like to be very sure when I make a move and certainly we felt that we needed to be sure that this was the conclusion and we will act appropriately."

Jules Vasquez
"The matter of the post mortem for this young man having to wait 13 days for it to be completed has in fact made the impact of the trauma public perspective greater because its dragged it out and that if the Estradabran contract was not held in abeyance for so long, it could have been more expeditiously resolved and you wouldn't have all this public hemorrhaging."

Hon. John Saldivar - Minister of National Security
"I certainly agree that it took certainly too long for us to deal with not just the Boco-T autopsy but with all those that were delayed for a long time. It's unfortunate and the ministry regrets that this had to take place but that's the nature of negotiating and we had to come to some agreement with Dr. Estradabran before he brought back his services to full strength."

The family of 38 year old Kevin Kelly says they plan to sue the police department.

As for the new Estradabran contract - when we checked this evening, it had been signed by both parties and is in effect. It is a two year contract.

Channel 7

Cops on Duty during Boco T's death placed on interdiction

A trio of officers attached to the San Pedro Police Station is tonight on interdiction and a criminal investigation has been launched into the death of Kevin 'Boco T' Kelly. Boco T was buried today, but the circumstances surrounding his demise while being held inside a cell at the San Pedro Police Station on April twenty-sixth, remained shrouded in mystery until Tuesday when a post mortem examination by Dr. Mario Estradabran indicated that Kelly died of hypovolemic shock. That was reconfirmed by a second post mortem by Dr. Hugh Sanchez. The autopsies confirm that the thirty-eight year old Belize City resident succumbed to injuries caused by a blunt object. Boco T's family has maintained all along that they were suspicious and believed that he had been murdered, contrary to an account given by Assistant Superintendent Vienni Robinson, Officer Commanding San Pedro Police Formation that Boco T died of natural causes. In a statement to the media on April twenty-seventh, ASP Robinson said that Boco T had fainted several times after being recaptured and that he was discovered unresponsive a few hours later. So, was Boco T murdered while in police custody? That is now under investigation. This morning, a prohibitive order by Commissioner of Police David Henderson was issued to police constables Chuc and Jimenez, as well as special constable Tun from the San Pedro formation.

Channel 5