The villagers say they do not believe the police’s account of the death of a fellow villager
BELMOPAN, Cayo District, Thurs. Dec. 7, 2017-The strange death of Edwin Antonio Baires “Jose” Hernandez, 20, has caused some villagers of Teakettle to express their contempt for certain members of the police department.
Today, three villagers — Pilnes Gutierres, 55; Marvin Corea, 23; and Guadalupe Guerra, 22 — were arraigned in the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court for charges relating to a protest they staged against the circumstances in which their fellow villager was killed.
They were all charged with “Illegal Assembly,” while Gutierres was additionally charged with “Illegal Entry.”
When they appeared before Magistrate Ladonna John, Gutierres pleaded guilty and was fined $1,000 for each offence.
Corea and Guerra pleaded not guilty and their cases were adjourned until January 31, 2018.
On Tuesday, sometime around 9 a.m., police were called to Teakettle, where they observed several tires ablaze in the village. The fires had apparently been set by disgruntled villagers who were demanding justice for their slain friend and fellow villager.
When Amandala spoke with villagers, they explained that they heard three shots before seeing the deceased being driven away in the pan of a police pickup truck.
Villagers told our newspaper that Hernandez was not a troublesome youth. They said he ran from police, only because he was an undocumented Salvadoran national who had only recently arrived in the village. They say that he was no robber, and instead did whatever jobs he could find to provide for himself.
Police, on the other hand, said that on Saturday, Hernandez had robbed a villager at knifepoint. Police claimed that an officer who was chasing a fleeing Hernandez tripped on some barbed wire and his 9-millimeter pistol fell to the ground and accidentally discharged, hitting Hernandez once in the leg.
Villagers say this story does not make any sense.
The results of a post-mortem examination released today revealed that Hernandez died as a result of “asphyxiation by bronchial aspiration due to stomach contents as a consequence of gunshot wound to the right thigh.”
In other words, something he had been eating or drinking while running from police had reportedly, “gone down the wrong pipe,” causing his death.