7 News Belize

Two Lives Lost In Traffic Fatality
posted (February 9, 2015)
A man and a teenaged boy were killed in a traffic accident in Belmopan on Saturday. At about 1:50 on Saturday morning, 24 year old Daniel Cunil was driving along the Hummingbird highway when he hit a motorcycle traveling in the opposite direction - killing the driver and his passenger on the spot. Police say, alcohol may have been a factor. Our news team was in Belmopan this morning to find out more. Courtney Weatherburne reports.

Courtney Weatherburne
"These are the remains of Saturday morning road traffic accident. What you see scattered on the roadside are motorcycle scraps, but while these shards of fiberglass and plastic can be removed or replaced, a lost love one can't be."

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
This black bow that hangs above the doorway announces the death of their loved one,

17 year old Rigoberto Cabrera. His family members stand in a daze near the doorway as they recollect the last time they saw the teenager.

Hayde Orellano, Mother of Deceased
"Well he went out Friday night at around 7:30 and he never returned. The thing is I told him to go with me to a novena that they were having at a friend's house. And I told him Rigito "If you are going to come for me, I am going with the kids - your sisters - to the novena and he told me "Yes mom I will pass for you." But because I came early…I never saw him after that."

The Ramos family is also mourning the loss of their family member, 26 year old Leonardo Ramos. He left his wife with their 1 year old baby boy and 4 year old son.

His younger sister said he left on his motorcycle to Las Flores on Friday night and never returned….

Maria Ramos, Sister of Deceased
"Yes, he was going to put on lights on a house that they were watching. He went and put on the lights and then he came back. He went back, but we didn't know where he was going."

Courtney Weatherburne
"He just left and then he said he was going to Las Flores and then from there?"

Maria Ramos, Sister of Deceased
"He took the keys from my father and afterwards he came back."

Courtney Weatherburne
"The motorcycle was his?"

Maria Ramos, Sister of Deceased
"Yes it was his motorcycle. He had two months since he bought the motorcycle. He was a person who was nice. He come by our house because he lives beside us. He use to come every evening. He use to sit down with us and watch the news together and that was a relationship that we had with everybody - all of us together inside. Sometimes we use you have fun, we use to play - we will miss him a lot."

Now these families are only left with grief and the vivid recall of what they saw when they got to the accident scene:

Both men died on the spot after they were hit by a car and flung from the motorcycle. The car then slammed into these culverts after the impact.

The police say the driver was drunk.

Inspector Stephanie Grinage, Deputy Commander, Belmopan
"On 7th February, police received information of a traffic accident, between mile 54 and 55 on the Hummingbird Highway. Upon arrival, they observed a car and a motorcycle on the left-hand side of the road, both extensively damage. Also two male persons were observed apparently dead. Well, so far we have since charged Daniel Cunil, 24 years old, of a Belmopan City address for two counts of manslaughter by negligence, two counts, causing death by careless conduct, drove motor vehicle without due care and attention and driving with alcohol concentration above the prescribe limit."

A man will be charged - but nothing will bring back the lives of these two men for these devastated families.

Cunil was arraigned and received bail of ten thousand dollars. Cabrera and Ramos received severe head and body injuries while the driver Cunil complained of pain in the neck. As a result of the impact the motorcycle also caught fire.

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