Not guilty, that's the decision that came out of Belmopan today in the Aracely Cahueque trial, she become the 4th defendant to have been acquitted of the murder of 18 year-old Raylene Dyer.
It looked to be a marathon trial where over 17 witnesses were scheduled to testify for the prosecution. But it came down to the main witness, Brandon Budna.
As we told you, Budna gave police a 2 statements, and in the second, he agreed to cooperate with the DPP's Office as a witness against Aracely Cahueque. DPP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal took the stand on Wednesday and gave evidence for the prosecution in this case in which she spoke on how that second statement was gotten, and how it would have been used.
There was no physical evidence which linked Cahueque to the murder of Raylene Dyer, though police strongly believed that she was the mastermind in this crime.
So in an effort to try get her to face justice, DPP Vidal spoke with Budna while he was on remand asking him to cooperate as a witness, which he agreed to do.
The condition of that statement was that he would be tried first, and that this statement couldn't be used against him in his own murder trial. The statement was only to be used to prosecute Cahueque, and that Budna would gain no favour from it, such as immunity, only the satisfaction that it was the right thing to do, and that Cahueque would face the consequences just like the rest of them.
Well, that statement was tested in the trial, and it was ruled as inadmissible as evidence against Cahueque. Without that, the prosecution's case fell apart, and Crown Counsels Kayshia Grant and Cecil Ramirez were forced to close their case.
With no case to answer, Justice Denis Hanomansingh directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty, setting Cahueque free. Well, as you can imagine, Raylene Dyer's family was furious at the outcome. First, the 3 men accused of killing her walked, and now the accused mastermind has also been set free.
Enraged, it actually came to blows outside of court between both families. Here's that flare up:
Aracely's Mom
"May peace be upon you people, may God give you peace, the peace this world can never give, but only the peace that God can give."
Daniel Ortiz reporting
But it's not a peaceful within these 2 families. That's how it played out in Belmopan this morning, when the judgement from the Supreme Court came down that accused mastermind, Aracely Cahueque, was acquitted before Justice Denis Hanomansingh.
With tempers flared, and emotions heightened, they looked to settle their differences with fists and words.
Raylene Dyer's family is furious, and they feel like they've been failed by the justice system, but the fact of the matter is that Aracely Cahueque is a free woman, acquitted after being tried by the state.
The witness, Brandon Budna, who has been accused and acquitted of the same crime Cahueque is to be linked to, didn't help the prosecution's case as much as they had hoped. His eyesight loss is said to have been a difficulty for the prosecution.
Dickie Bradley
"This statement when I questioned that witness and said to him you are in jail, you are a young man, you are going to UB, you are intelligent, you are not stupid, you have been charged for a murder - you are sitting in prison now and a few days afterwards police will come to you and say you want to give a statement against Aracely and so on" and he says yes. He said no, I gave it because they promised me X,Y and Z or whatever which change the whole complexion of the matter. I did not know that, but none of us are fools and the jury are not fools. A man who is in prison and charge for murder is going to help the same people who 
charged him for murder which he is saying he did not do. So, when he came to court they could not show him the statement to say isn't this your signature, didn't you signed a statement? They didn't do that because the court and the persecutors know that he can't see, so they have to established that that is a statement they obtained from him and they did that by getting the officer who recorded him and the JP who was present and it raises the question why a JP is present, it's not a caution statement. Why didn't they get an official right there at the prison or somebody who is neutral, but anyhow, when it was finally established that that must have been the statement that the police are talking about because he can't say yes or no because then he only know that he spoke to the police and that they ask him to put his signature on a document. When it came time now, for the procedure in court is that did you say in your statement that Aracely had contacted you? He says, he started to explain as he was explaining from the beginning in court, the things in the statement don't come from me, they come from the police, it is the same information that they had tortured and beaten me for."
And so, Aracely Cahueque gets to go home and sleep in her own bed after almost 4 years. But no matter how much time passes, she will forever be associated with this crime. So, how does she deal with being public enemy number 1?
Mike Rudon, Ch 5
"How does it feel to be free after almost 4 years?"
Aracely Cahueque - Acquitted of Abetment to Murder
"Well I just want thank God, because he is a just God and has always been with me. And I want thank the people who prayed for me and also thank God for putting angels in my way. Like my mother is a blessed mother and Mr. Bradley who also is an angel for me. And I just want to state that I had no reason to kill Raylene Dyer, no reason at all."
Dickie Bradley
"The family is angry and they have a right to be angry and I don't know if they have been told that they will get a conviction. I don't know what it is. They have every right to be angry. All of us in the society are angry because whoever killed Raylene Dyer must answer for it. But that don't mean say you can take it out of Aracely and Aracely has not denied as I try to explain to Duane Moody from one of the television station when he was cross examining me yesterday, you can't take that out of Aracely. Aracely is not denying that she had the child properly and lawfully. The mommy had her take possession of the child for a few hours."
In coming to the decision, Justice Hanomansingh had tough criticism for DPP Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, saying that her behaviour was unethical when she, as the chief prosecuting authority, approached Budna to give a statement for the prosecution, while he was already charged with murder.
In response, DPP Vidal told us quote, "As all the days of my near 16 years at the Bar, I will continue to show the greatest respect for the bench and for the administration of justice, I therefore have no response to the comments made by the judge, other than that I will very promptly file an appeal." End Quote.
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