Belize man jailed for machete attack in Hattieville

Belize: A 53-year-old fisherman and laborer who was previously acquitted of murder, has been sentenced to one year in prison for a machete attack on a fellow Hattieville resident on January 21, 2026.

The victim has been identified as a 48-year-old man, a fellow resident of Hattieville village. The suspect has been identified as a 53-year-old fisherman and labourer, Albert Emmanuel Jones Sr.

According to police reports, the officers received a report of the incident on Saturday, January 17, around 9:00 a.m., and upon reaching the Old Hattieville Boom area near a bus shed housing a taco stand, officers discovered a man who was bleeding from a cut wound to his left shoulder.

Following which the officers asked him about the circumstances, responding to which he told the officers that around 8:30 a.m., he was sitting under the bus shed while eating tacos, when suddenly he was attacked by Jones Sr., from behind.

He further told the officers that the suspect Jones attacked him with a machete on his shoulder which caused him to bleed profusely without any provocation.

The suspect was assisted by a third man who took the machete away from Jones Sr’s hands after the incident.

Reacting to which the officers immediately arrested the suspect and charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The officers also arranged his arraignment before the Magistrate Mannon Dennison.

On January 21, the suspect Emmanuel Jones Sr was presented before the court, where he pleaded guilty to attacking the victim with deadly means, as he accepted his crime before the magistrate.

He told the magistrate that “I attacked my fellow mate for nothing, I never intended to kill him, we had a misunderstanding for a long time which made me attack him,” while demanding leniency on this matter.

He also pleaded with the court to grant him a lesser punishment citing towards the fine or suspend the charges against him, saying that he did not want to go to prison and he never intended to kill him. He also emphasised  that “he lost his mind in that moment because he had a quarrel with his wife earlier which triggered him.”

However, the Magistrate Dennison rejected all his claims and plea while considering his previous criminal records in which he never got convicted, and then sentenced him to one year in prison for attacking the victim with deadly means.