St. Joseph Street Errand Man Fatally Stabbed

A man was stabbed to death sometime before ten p.m. on Thursday in Belize City. It happened at the corners of Saint Joseph and Nurse Seay Street. Reports are that the victim, Griffith Cadle Junior, was hanging out with someone who ended up turning on him. It is not clear what transpired, but both men were reportedly near a Chinese grocery shop, where the two had spent many days socializing. They were last seen walking on Saint Joseph Street when the killer produced a knife and stabbed Cadle, who sought to run away, but collapsed. News Five’s Marion Ali visited the scene and filed this report.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

Griffith Cadle Junior was fatally stabbed on Thursday night in Belize City, in the general vicinity where he had spent most of his days hanging out.  This is where the sixty-seven-year-old collapsed after he suffered the fatal knife wound. News Five spoke with a resident of the area who also happened to be Cadle’s relative. She told us that he was an easy-going character and was the neighborhood errand man who hung out near the corner of Nurse Seay and St. Joseph’s Streets.

 

Voice of: Neighbour #1

“Cadle da mi cousin, but he nuh fast with nobody. When I say nobody, he keep to ihself – always he want a Coke and cigarettes, because ih sit down right deh by the Chiney deh. Ih always deh out deh di sit down but he get killed fi nothing. Fi nothing ih get killed. Dehn kill wa innocent man for what? Nothing, because all weh he do he sit down out deh, ih goh buy fi people round ya. And you could ask he fi goh anywhere fi you, he gwein, anywhere, he gwein. So when I see that last night, I say, mein, who could have wanted him dead?”

 

 

Another resident agreed that the victim was not troublesome and was a regular sight in front of the shop.

 

Voice of: Neighbour #2

“Cadle da wa humble man, nice, friendly, nuh bother nobody. And he well mannerly, and things like that. He da wa humble man, nuh really bother nobody. A person like that da nuh wa problem. He just drink his Coke and run his joke and mind his own business. He nuh really associate with people. He sit down far from people and he nuh really stand up round or things like that. He keep his distance.”

 

 

 

And while residents feel that Cadle did not deserve what happened to him, today the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told News Five that both the victim and the suspect had mental challenges.

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We don’t know if it’s going to be a murder because it was a matter between two persons with mental illness. The victim suffered mental illness and from what we saw on video footage, both the victim and the suspect were hanging out together at a particular spot. They left together and shortly thereafter, the suspect inflicted the stab wound on the victim. The suspect recently got out of prison. He served a ten-year sentence, I’m not sure for what, and the court had ordered that he undergo psychiatric evaluation because he has a mental issue. He is currently in police custody and he is not stable, so police cannot even interview him at this time because of how he’s behaving in the cell.”

 

 

The commissioner indicated that the police have requested assistance from the mental health institution to administer medication to calm the suspect down, after which they’re going to send the file to the D.P.P. for a directive. Marion Ali for News Five.