After being behind bars for almost six years in the murder of her common-law partner Felix Eduardo Alamilla, 42-year-old Mexican National Anabel Matilde Bacelis Kumul was sentenced to 15 years’ inprisonment on Tuesday, January 28th in Belize City. Kumul, who pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, appeared before Justice Colin Williams, who stipulated that due to her guilty plea, Kumul was entitled to a reduction of a third of her sentence. Instead of serving 15 years, her remaining time in prison will now be only four years and six months.
Kumul was remanded to the Belize Central Prison after killing her common-law husband, then 28-year-
old Felix Alamilla, the father of their two children, at around 5:30AM on July 23, 2014. According to reports, an enraged Kumul stabbed Alamilla after he went out drinking with friends and did not return home for two days. The police report indicated that he had been stabbed multiple times while he slept on a sofa. He suffered stab wounds to the chest, head and thigh. She was apprehended sometime around 7:30 AM on the same day of the incident. San Pedro Police were placed at various exit points on Ambergris Caye and a team of police officers sighted Kumul as she approached a local airline hangar. When Kumul saw police, she attempted to flee, but police set chase and quickly apprehended her. Kumul told police that she was very angry when she stabbed Alamilla, but did not think he would die.
In court, Justice Williams heard an impact assessment statement from Alamilla’s sister, Barbara Alamilla that was read by Crown Counsel Portia Ferguson. A plea for mitigation from Kumul’s attorney, Simeon Sampson, was read expressing her remorse for what she did to her common-law husband.
