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Alex Courtenay reporting
Just before 7:00 this morning Southside police went to East Collet Canal Street after receiving reports of a motionless body lying at the edge of the water. Police saw several stab wounds on the man’s chest, and he appeared to have been bound.

After conducting initial investigations at the scene, police took the body the KHMH.

Supt. Daniel Arzu - Deputy OC, Southside Police
"Sometime around 6:45 this morning, the Crimes Investigation Branch were called out to the corner of East Collet Canal and Racecourse Street. There they observed the body of a male person lying face down with both arms tied. The police did their investigation and it appears that the body was motionless, so he was conveyed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival."

The body, which was later identified as Thomas Arthur Staine, a taximan who lived on Reggae Street with his mother and 5-year-old son. While police were first to find his body, Staine's brother was the one who found his vehicle. We spoke to his mother earlier today and she described what he saw.

Anne Lockwood Staine - Mother of the Deceased
"It happened so fast, just in split seconds it happened. His brother nearly witnessed it. When he went there, his brother touched the bonnet of the vehicle and it was still hot, they had just done killed him and they couldn't find him at the spot."

So far, the cops have been able to use the information they have received from his family and co-workers from the MCC Taxi Association to piece together a rough timeline of the events leading up to his death,

Supt. Daniel Arzu - Deputy OC, Southside Police
"Investigation suggests that sometime around three in the morning, this morning, this gentleman, Mr. Thomas Arthur Staine, was by Ramada Princess Casino, being a taxi driver, and he drove off from that location heading to Birds' Isle to purchase something to eat; and sometime around 4:10 A.M., the vehicle that he was driving, which is a white taxi, was found at the corner of King [Street] and Amara Avenue. Nobody was inside, but what was observed is that the back seat, the passenger seat, was smeared with what appears to be blood."

A motive has yet to be determined, but Staine's family and friends are sure that he didn't have any enemies.

Anne Lockwood Staine - Mother of the Deceased
"He never a day say he has problems with anyone, because he had any problem he would have told me. I spoke to him every day and I ask him, you are alright son and he said yes he is alright. No problem he doesn't have with anyone. I don't know why they did this to him."

Staine leaves behind several siblings and close friends, but it's his mother, and young son who will miss him the most.

Anne Lockwood Staine - Mother of the Deceased
"My son was the best thing God has ever put into my life, my 3 sons. I have 3 sons, one died too and that was the middle one to the older one, but he doesn't give any problems. All the problem he has is to himself, he drink his rum and he just do what he wants to do with himself and he would go in his bed and sleep when he is done. He doesn't trouble anyone. He doesn't go out, from his taxi work to his bed."

Staine is the fourth Belize City taximan to have been murdered this year.