Justice Delivered, but Did Authorities Fail Nestor Vasquez?  

A sixteen-year prison sentence has brought some measure of justice for the killing of Nestor Vasquez, but his family says it does not erase the failure that placed him in danger. Collin Francis received the sentence for manslaughter, along with ten years for attempting to murder nurse Augustina Elijio. He will serve both sentences concurrently, and with credit dating back to June 2019, Francis has approximately nine years remaining. The court heard that he was suffering from severe mental illness during the attacks and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Tonight, Vasquez’s family is again asking why authorities placed their loved one in the same police cell as a man who had reportedly shown violent behavior.

 

Jules Vasquez, Brother of Deceased

“Mr. Francis tried to kill two people in June of 2019. He killed one but I do not want another family to have to go through that. I do not believe that they have the healthcare infrastructure to take care of somebody’s who is mentally ill and violent and the court said that the social inquiry report said that his family did not have the ability to do it. His mother is of age, as is his father. He’s a young man and when he committed these crimes in June of 2019, he had been off his meds for long time. So I believe that because of this, if he’s on his meds, as the court has said, he’s been doing well in prison because he’s on his meds and he doesn’t have access to marijuana, which the judge said is a trigger. But I am not convinced that he has the family infrastructure and I know the system does not have the medical infrastructure to make sure that someone who can  kill when they’re under these hallucinations can receive his medications appropriately. Neither his family nor the system have the ability to ensure this.”

 

Justice Pilgrim criticized the prison system for failing to follow court orders for psychiatric assessments. He also urged Belize to provide proper care facilities for mentally ill offenders.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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