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Man Beaten Nearly To Death By Relatives In Chan Chen
posted (September 14, 2015)
A man is lucky to be alive after he was beaten to within an inch of his life - but what is even more disturbing is that a family member may be responsible. We have photos of him after the beating, but we warn, if you're squeamish they may seem a little graphic. We got them form his family.

The incident happened in Chan Chen Village in Corozal between Friday night and early Saturday morning. According to a family member, 42 year old Mark Villanueva was at a camp site where he stays in the village when he was attacked and dragged to a nearby property. Villanueva was severely beaten and the family says almost buried alive. Villanueva was found there after another relative called his sister at around 5:30 Saturday morning and told her of this gruesome attack. If it wasn't for that call, Villanueva would not have survived. We spoke with Villanueva's niece, Shanna Pott today and she told us the chilling tale of the beastly attack.

Shanna Pott, Niece
"The person who attacked my uncle came into his camp where he works his farm in Chan Chen Village. So he stays there by himself in this area, him and this other person. They live a few yards away from each other and my uncle was asleep in his camp at the time when he was attacked by this person. The person came into his camp and knocked him out. But my uncle said that before he was knocked out, he saw the person face. He knows exactly who did it and as a matter of fact, this person has admit it to attacking my uncle. He threw him down from his camp, because the camp is off the ground and from what we believed he was dragged to the other person's farm - to the other person's house. He was dragged to there where he suffered severe bruises all over his body. He had dirt in his stomach, because he was vomiting dirt and blood in the hospital. He was bounded, tied up. We believe he was tied and dragged. He had ligature marks on his hands when my mom and my brother found him."

"This person is claiming now, this is his story, that my uncle went into his place to steal his weed eater, which is a lie, because my uncle has his own things. He works very hard for what he owns. He is not rich, but he worked very hard for what he owns. My uncle was in is boxers and he was barefooted. So who goes to steal in their boxers and barefooted and how did he come with drag marks all over his body. It was probably at around 6am they got there and initially when my mom got there, she saw her brother laying in the dirt faced down. He was in boxers and had marks all over his body and he was covered with a cardboard box and then this person who did this, he went to the cardboard box and lift it up and told the police "see him there." Just like that."

Mark Villanueva is at the KHMH where he is in critical but stable condition. He is able to talk and the swelling in his face has gone down. To add some backstory to this incident - Pott told us that her uncle - who is the victim - and the relative who she believes is the attacker were working together on the farm but her uncle quit a week ago because he was being underpaid. It seems that infuriated the accused relative and that's why he almost beat Villanueva to death. Now, that is only one side of the story. As you heard in the interview, the accused relative told police that Villanueva was trying to steal his weed whacker and that he was simply protecting his property. If that is so, did it warrant the vicious beatdown? Well when we spoke to Corozal police this evening they told us that everyone has a right to protect their property if it is under threat BUT if that person used excessive force then they will be charged. The police could not release any more details on the case as they are currently recording statement and "getting both sides of the story". The accused relative was released. We will keep following this story.

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