Lenny Bennett Benguche’s trial for attempted murder and maiming concluded this afternoon at 2:26 p.m., wherein a jury of nine found him not guilty of the two counts of attempted murder, but was unable to deliver a verdict for his maiming charge.
As a result, Justice Herbert Lord ordered a retrial for the maiming charge. Benguche was remanded and has to wait until the new Supreme Court session begins, at which time he will be eligible to apply for bail. Benguche was not represented in his trial.
Benguche, 26, of Marage Road, Ladyville, was accused of shooting at 24-year-old Christina Zetina and her boyfriend, Kareem Young, both of Ladyville, on January 29, 2008, sometime between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., on Egbert Quilter Avenue in Ladyville.
Young escaped unharmed, but Zetina was hit on the left knee, after which doctors were forced to do an above-the-knee amputation due to tissues becoming inflamed around her knee causing her to develop a life-threatening infection.
Benguche was charged for one count of attempted murder for Kareem Young, one count of attempted murder for Christina Zetina, and an alternative to consider if he is acquitted for Zetina’s attempted murder, a charge of maiming.
In Justice Lord’s summation of the trial, he outlined both Crown Counsel Christelle Wilson’s case, and Benguche’s defense. Crown Counsel Wilson called both Zetina and Young as witnesses; they started by outlining the events that led up to the shooting.
Both said that Young, Zetina and Young’s mother had left the house of Young’s mother, traveling on bicycle, sometime after 8 that night; they passed by a shop owned by a Chinese businessman, on the corner of Egbert Quilter Avenue and Marage Road, Ladyville.
Zetina and Young said that they saw Benguche at this shop when they passed by to drop Young’s mother at her work, a short distance past the Ladyville-Lords Bank junction. They said that they dropped Young’s mother, bought a fried chicken from another Chinese business by the junction, and rode back toward Young’s mother’s house.
They noted that about a block away from the house of Young’s mother, they both saw Benguche walking toward them, and when he was about a foot away, under the lighting of a lamp post in the area, he pulled out what looked like a black pistol (Young called it a black object) and opened fire on both of them.
In their respective testimonies, they noted that Young escaped unhurt, but Zetina got hit on the left knee, after which she fell to the ground, looking up at their assailant.
The only inconsistency in their corroborated story is the period of time during which they claim they were looking at Benguche: Zetina said two to three minutes, while Young said he had about ten minutes because his bicycle chain had slipped while trying to ride off to go get help for Zetina.
Both said that Benguche ran off into the bushes, while Young went for Zetina’s mother, after which they all went to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Zetina and Young both also commented that Benguche had threatened Young the day before and showed up later that day at Zetina’s mother’s house and threatened them with a pistol.
Crown Counsel Wilson also called Dr. Jose Miguel, who attended to Zetina in the hospital. He outlined the events that led up to Zetina’s above-the-knee amputation. He described the nature of Zetina’s wound as maiming.
In Benguche’s defense, he said that he was indeed at the Chinese business establishment at which Zetina and Young noted they saw him. He said he was drinking rum and bitters with friends when he heard the shots, seemingly in an area he approximated to be a quarter of a mile away from where he and his friends were.
He said that he went that direction after one of his friends decided to call it a night because they knew that the police would make a sweep of the area for possible suspects for the crime. Benguche said that he immediately went home.
Benguche admitted that he did see Zetina the day before, but he said it was Young who threatened him in a fit of jealousy, for trying to help her with a jacket to use to get home through the rain. He also admitted that he went to Zetina’s house upset, but he took a cutlass, not a gun.
Benguche also alleged that Young threatened him with a gun on the street a few hours after he (Benguche) left Zetina’s mother’s house after threatening them. He said that Young told him that he better have intentions to finish what he started when he comes to threaten people.
Benguche called Levi Bahadur to the stand who testified that he was with Benguche that night, and that they were indeed drinking when they heard what sounded to him like gunshots. He also estimated that the shots were heard quite a distance away, but he said he was one hundred percent sure that it was gunshots he heard.
Bahadur testified that immediately after they heard shots, he told Benguche that he was leaving because he knew that the police were going to sweep the area soon. Bahadur said that he went home and Benguche went his own way, and he didn’t see Benguche until the next day.
The jury deliberated for three hours and delivered a unanimous verdict of not guilty on the first attempted murder charge, and a majority (8-1) decision of not guilty for the second charge.
They were unable to deliver a decision for the maiming charge; Justice Lord advised them on the necessary give-and-take (Watson’s Direction), and allowed them to deliberate for a second time, and after thirty minutes, they were still hung, thus Justice Lord ordered a retrial on the maiming charge.
The family and Crown Counsel Wilson hope to bring up the retrial as soon as possible to see what they deem as justice served.
On an important note, in his final address to the jury, Benguche admitted to the jury that he is a repeat offender, noting, however, that he has never been tried for murder before.