Izra Zetina, 18, is today out on bail of $6,000 after appearing on Tuesday afternoon at Orange Walk Town Magistrate’s Court on charges of manslaughter.
In our mid-week issue of Amandala, we had reported that Zetina had originally been arrested on a charge of murder in the death of Juan Baeza, but police seemed hesitant to explain why, only saying that the post-mortem was scheduled for Tuesday.
As it turns out, that post-mortem shows that Baeza bled to death from a head injury, complicated by pulmonary edema (fluid accumulation in the lungs), suffered last Thursday while traveling home with Zetina and Gaspar Vasquez, 19, in a pickup truck in Orange Walk Town.
Baeza, a student of the University of Belize, had been taken home after the incident, in which it is alleged all three young men were drinking, only to be pronounced dead at the Northern Regional Hospital a few hours later.
Baeza reportedly scuffled with Zetina and Vasquez, who were trying to keep him from jumping out of the moving truck. During this scuffle, Baeza is said to have fallen down in the pan against some crates and received the injuries that eventually killed him.
According to Orange Walk’s CTV-3 News, a number of UB students living in the Orange Walk area gathered at the courthouse to show their support for Zetina.
Zetina is being defended by Dickie Bradley, who told CTV-3 he was confident that Zetina would be cleared based on the results of the post-mortem and the deceased’s prior history with the accused and Vasquez, who has since been cleared.
Amandala understands, however, that Baeza’s family continues not to believe that version of events. It has still not been explained by police, however, why Zetina would be charged if all he did was to try to prevent Baeza from jumping out of the vehicle’s pan.
Zetina will return to court on October 17.