Its hard to forget the images, the blood on the street, or the emotions from September 10th 2003 when Aaron Mariano was killed in front of the Queen Street Police Station by a soldier armed with a M-16 allegedly on the instruction of a police officer. Well nearly two years later the case has come to trial. Yesterday a jury was empanelled for the joint trial of BDF Soldier Giovanni Gutierrez and Special Constable Dennis Palacio on a manslaughter charge. The first witness was Magistrate Linden Flowers who was an Inspector at the time of the shooting and was in charge of the two officers.
Mariano, who had been detained by police earlier on in the morning, was shot in the back of his head by Gutierrez. Back then, witnesses say it was allegedly at the instruction of Palacio who he was with. We will continue to follow this trial.
