Homeless Man Charged for Attempted Murder

A man who claims to be homeless is tonight on remand at the Belize Central Prison after being arraigned for attempted murder. According to police, on Saturday at around nine p.m., they visited the K.H.M.H. where they observed thirty-one-year-old Juan Pineda suffering from multiple stab wounds. An initial investigation revealed that Pineda was walking his dog in the Lords Ridge Cemetery when he was attacked by a man known to him as thirty-six-year-old Mark Stevens. Pineda said he made attempts to evade Stevens by running home, but Stevens ran towards him and stabbed him several times in his body with a shiny wooden-handle kitchen knife.   According to Pineda, his landlord tried to stop Stevens from harming him. Stevens then ran into the Lord Ridge Cemetery and escaped into the night. Police detained Stevens the following day. He appeared before a magistrate today for the offenses of attempted murder, use of deadly means of harm and dangerous harm. No plea was taken. Stevens told the court that he served time in United Kingdom after he went to live there at the age of eight. He says that he returned to Belize at the age of thirty and began living on the streets because he was being attacked by his family members. The magistrate questioned Stevens about an injury seen on his left index finger. Stevens claimed that he was taken to the hospital by the police, but they never gave him any medico legal form. The magistrate ordered that Stevens be taken to the K.H.M.H. to seek medical attention for his wound before he is taken up to the Belize Central Prison. He is to return to court on September ninth.