Murder in Dangriga; Canadian Retiree Bludgeoned inside Home

A murder has been recorded in the south, despite no official report as yet from the Belize Police Department. Sixty-year-old Canadian national Jeffrey Richard Lewis was discovered dead at his property off the Melinda Road in a remote area of Dangriga.  Lewis had been bludgeoned to death with a hammer and his decomposing body discovered on Tuesday morning by a neighbor who became suspicious after Lewis was not responding to calls or texts. But who wanted him dead and why? News Five’s Duane Moody went looking for answers.

Duane Moody, Reporting

This sign did not stop the perpetrators who sometime between Saturday evening and Tuesday morning entered the property of Jeffrey Lewis and ended his life with a hammer on the second floor of an incomplete structure on the property. The retired Canadian had been living in a remote area off Melinda Road in Dangriga for about a decade. He was last seen alive by his close friend Kareemah Caliz on Saturday afternoon.

Kareemah Caliz

Kareemah Caliz, Friend of Deceased

“He wheel up the windshield for ih car and get ina the car and gone.”

Duane Moody

“That was the last time that you saw him?”

Kareemah Caliz

[Nods]

Duane Moody

“Monday you guys were supposed to do an errand and he never showed up, right.”

Kareemah Caliz

“I call ahn Monday, but the bwai still neva cut the land so I never pressure ahn because I got my part fi do before he come in and help come do his part. He noh respond; he noh respond, but I noh di think no way. I noh di think dehn kinda way deh. Saturday he told me he has a girlfriend so I noh di…then I text ahn Tuesday. I di text ahn, call ahn. And then Monday when I log in on my ma phone, I see he active twenty-one hours ago. I tell my ma, “Ma that [bleep], he noh wah do that cause he got internet on his phone. He lvie far, but he have everything comfortable.”

So Tuesday morning, around eleven o’clock, Caliz got her eight-year-old daughter ready and went looking for Lewis and made the gruesome discovery. Lewis’ decomposing body; he had been bound and his face covered with a blue blanket. Scenes of Crime personnel, who processed the scene, report that a hammer was found next to the body and the Canadian national had been bludgeoned to the head.

Kareemah Caliz

“We walk gone dah fi he house because nobody noh di move up to how I want. And when we reach deh about eleven. When I reach ina di yard, I see like konkas pan di window; the buzzing sound – I mi think dah bee one spell and then the vultures di fly over ih house. I peep downstairs fi see if ih car deh deh and ih car mi deh deh. I gone half way up the ladder and the scent. I had to come down back, but I had my daughter with me, but she deh right dah di bottom of the ladder. I come down back; I noh gone up noh more. I noh peep in to see how dehn mi have ahn, but I peep in and see ih foot and the first thing come to my mind dah maybe ih mussi mi drop ina pain, but when I see the picture dah then I see dehn had ih hand tied. They covered ih head so we noh see ih face. I noh know weh dehn do with ih face, but dehn cover ih head.”

The area is used as farm land; it is isolated and there is no electricity in the area. So who knew that he lived there and why would they target Lewis? Was it a home invasion gone wrong? These are questions that have been playing over and over again among residents who say that Lewis was a loner, for the most part, who had made Dangriga his home.

Kareemah Caliz

“He always help everybody. If you need anything he wah help yo; ih wah give yow ah job fi do – ih wah make yo wash ih car or something; he wah give yo wah job fi do. If dah money, he noh keep money like that pan ahn. My friend smart; he way to smart. If he put down wah pin yah, he know that that pin missing from there. When yo go dah his house, he is precise bout how he move ih thing, bout how he do ih thing.”

Duane Moody

“He wasn’t know to give any trouble or had any issue with anybody chu?”

Antonio Romero, Resident, Melinda Road

“Not that I know about. He woulda pass yah go do ih lee thing and then yo see ih come back again and go dah farm and then yo woulda see ahn until next time again.”

Residents are calling for justice and want the police to properly investigate the murder.

Kareemah Caliz

“If dah business or dah problem ih had with anybody, check the people weh ih got right now di work fi ahn or weh ih got previously di work fi ahn or people weh ih fire already. He got a book weh he keep that ina. When yo call ih phone, ih phone di ring up.”

Antonio Romero

“You see I got this lee thing yah, I close five o’clock because this place yah get outta hand bad. Gunshot, every night nearly yo hear gunshot bout out yah.”

Lewis had no relatives living in Belize. Caliz says that his relatives in Canada can reach out to her at phone numbers: 608-1225 or 621-2761. Duane Moody for News Five.