COROZAL TOWN, Fri. July 10, 2020– Apolonio Kiow, 52, a laborer of Corozal Town who has been on remand for the October 2017 murder of Gabriel Bochnia, 47, a Canadian businessman of Altamira, Corozal Town, was found guilty of murder yesterday in the Northern Session of the Supreme Court, which was convened in Orange Walk Town.
Kiow was found guilty by Justice Herbert Lord, and sentencing has been deferred until September 28. The trial was held without a jury.
The defense was represented by attorney Oscar Selgado, and the prosecution was represented by Crown Counsel Shadeke Urbina.
Kiow’s trial began in March in the Supreme Court and concluded yesterday when Justice Lord made his summations.
In summarizing the evidence, Justice Lord pointed out that Bochnia’s wife, who was with him at the time, identified Kiow as the gunman, a person she said she had known for years. The wife said in court that after shooting her husband, the gunman pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire, and the shooter ran away.
She told the court that she has known Kiow since she was a child, and that he had been employed by her and her husband.
In his defense, Kiow told the court that at the time Bochnia was killed, he was at home sleeping with his wife and baby and that he could not be the killer.
Justice Lord, however, did not believe that story.