Supreme Court finds Orange Walk man guilty of murder

By Aaron Humes: Mario Aguirre,29, of San Roman, Orange Walk District, potentially faces the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty of murder last week by Supreme Court Justice Herbert Lord.

The mechanic was found to have intentionally, unlawfully and without justification caused the death of neighbour Marcelino Chan, 54, a farmer of San Roman who was a father of 11 children, by stabbing him seven times after the older man intervened to stop a domestic dispute.

14 witnesses, including one for the defense, were called to review the events of March 4, 2017 and beyond starting in January.

Police charge that on or about 8:30 p.m. that Saturday evening, Aguirre and his common-law wife became involved in a domestic dispute in her family house in the village, and he began to beat her, according to witnesses. Chan then intervened and subdued Aguirre who began to leave, but then turned on Chan and inflicted the fatal wounds to the left side of the chest, behind the ears, and twice in the rib cage, which pierced his heart and back. He then briefly fled before being captured by police.

The defense called one witness, who told the court that she saw three men attacking Aguirre, raising the claim of self-defense. Aguirre himself gave an unsworn statement in his own defense.

But Justice Lord dismissed this evidence in his deliberation, stating that the two statements were not corroborated and therefore the witness statement was of little or no weight to him and the evidence tendered by the prosecution weighed heavily against Aguirre’s claims. Neither man was known to cause trouble prior to their fatal encounter.

No date has been given for Aguirre’s sentencing.

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