Kenrick Longsworth Found Guilty of Manslaughter and Wounding

Kenrick Longsworth, the Belize City resident accused of murdering his three-year-old stepson, has been found guilty of manslaughter. As we have reported, on January tenth, 2020, Mark Teul’s mother found him dead inside their Lovely Lane home. He was allegedly beaten to death and sexually assaulted by Longsworth. Mark’s siblings were also found badly beaten but still alive inside the house. Longsworth was also slapped with two counts of attempted murder in connection with their injuries. Today, the High Court found him guilty of wounding, not attempted murder, but only in the case of one of the surviving siblings. He was found not guilty in relation to the charge that stemmed from the other’s injury. So, Longsworth was found guilty of manslaughter and guilty of wounding.  In court, Justice Derick Sylvester concluded that while Longsworth admitted to hitting Mark, he claimed that he never caused the injuries that led to his death.  But after careful consideration of the crown’s evidence, including that of the children’s mother, a neighbor who testified to Longsworth admitting to her that he beat the children that day, and two doctors’ testimony, Justice Sylvester ruled that Longsworth caused the injuries. Furthermore, Justice Sylvester noted in his ruling that while Longsworth did not intend to kill Mark Teul he lied, and because no evidence could prove his intent was to murder, he was found guilty of manslaughter. Justice Sylvester further concluded that the evidence provided was not convincing enough to link Longsworth to injuries that the other stepson sustained. During the trial, one doctor testified saying that the injuries observed on him were old injuries and not recent.   Longsworth, who gave sworn testimony from the witness box, said he ended the relationship with the children’s mother and that is when she got mad and took out her anger on the kids and beat them up. He blamed the child’s mother for the injuries her two children sustained and the death of her son, though one witness had testified to seeing him beating the deceased child with a stick the day he died. Notably, Justice Sylvester did point out that based on the findings of two doctors, the children were being abused prior to January tenth, 2020 and that it was sad to see that they were kept in such an environment.