BELIZE CITY, Sat. Jan. 22, 2021– In 2018, eight lawmen were charged for the murder of Ariel Audinette, who died after being brutally beaten by one police officer and seven BDF soldiers at his home in Orange Walk.

At the time, reports from police were that a female person nudged the officers to confront Audinette for a supposedly stolen cell phone. The accused police officer, who has now been charged for manslaughter, PC Lennart Cajun, and the seven soldiers were subsequently released by now Acting Chief Justice Michelle Arana, after the prosecution failed to submit its documents for preliminary inquiry on time.

It was not until this past weekend that news broke that one of the accused assailants — PC Lennart Cajun, a resident of San Victor, Corozal — had been rearrested and charged for manslaughter. The arrest was made three years after the incident first occurred. Cajun is facing only charges of manslaughter because he had already been charged for murder and acquitted. (At the time of the assault, the police officer is reported to have worn a mask to conceal his identity.)

There has been no indication whether any of the other men will be charged once again for the brutal killing.

The incident occurred in February of 2018. The eight lawmen went to the Orange Walk residence of Audinette and reportedly violently assaulted him and a friend of his who was present at the time, Oscar Payes. The men were taken to the Northern Regional Hospital after the beating, but Audinette, unfortunately, succumbed to his injuries.

The men were charged for murder, but the police prosecution branch failed to complete the directives that were given to them by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Then-Senior Magistrate Arana was forced to release them, just 8 months after they were first arrested in September of 2018.

The case is now once again before the court. We will continue to follow this story.