On Monday, Orange Walk Police told 7NEWS that based on the investigation into the death of eighteen year old UB student Juan Baeza, it is more than likely the murder charge against eighteen year old fellow student Izra Zetina will be reduced to manslaughter. And, this afternoon Zetina was formally arraigned in the Orange Walk Magistrate’s Court on the charge of manslaughter. He is presently out on a six thousand dollar bail plus one surety of the same amount.
As hinted at in this image courtesy CTV-3 in Orange Walk, a crowd of UB teachers, students, friends and family gathered at the court building in a show of support. On Thursday Baeza had been drinking with fellow students
Izra Zetina and Gaspar Vasquez and hitched a ride back to Orange Walk Town in the back of a pickup. Vasquez and Zetina told police that Baeza tried to jump out of the truck. They tried to hold unto him and that’s when Baeza fell and hit his head on a crate. Still, they took him to his home but five minutes after he got there, his mother became concerned and quickly called her brother Gumercindo Baeza for help.
Today 7_NEWS_ caught up with Gumercindo Baeza as he waited outside the Belize City morgue for the results of his nephew’s post mortem. Baeza told 7NEWS that the family does not believe the students’ account of what happened. And while the family is still troubled six days have passed and now they only want to lay their loved one to rest.
Gumercindo Baeza, Uncle of Deceased
“At arriving there, maybe about five minutes later, when I asked for him they told me he was in the bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, I saw him laying down only with some boxes and the way how I saw him he wasn’t drunk because a drunk person would either do some form of movement or something.
Upon seeing this I said he might be drunk or so I took my hand and checked his pulse and he had none. I placed my hand on his chest and no heart beat, all I saw was the imprint of my fingers on his chest which were visible then. That’s when I told my sister get him dressed and let us take him to the doctor, if he is drunk then probably they could do something for him to bring him back to pump his stomach.
Upon arriving there then the doctor examined him and just came out and
said he’s dead. So it was not as how the friends said, that he was drunk and that’s why they brought him home.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
When do you believe your nephew died?
Gumercindo Baeza,
“Talking to the young man that assisted me in taking him to the hospital, they said they started their spree or moved off from the college sometime around 11 in the morning. It was not until five that they arrived there. So I do not know if it is either exiting Belize City or if in fact was in Orange Walk the accident or whatever did occur.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
But you believe he was dead by the time the friends brought him home, he was already dead?
Gumercindo Baeza,
“I do not believe, I know he was dead by the time he arrived there. He was dead because the way how my sister explained how he moved, his limbs were so like flexible, not like someone who was drunk and trying to hold up to anything but his head, his arms, his feet, and everything were just limp so that is what made me touch for his pulse and he was dead.
He had one bruise mark on the upper right hand of his eyebrow, something like he dropped and then they dragged his head on the floor or something of the sort. But according to the description of what my wife said he looked when they dragged him in was that his pants was wet at the front and the back was full of dirt. So either as how his friends say he dropped or he was pushed but that does show that he had some form of contact with the floor because he did have some gravel on him, the street gravel.
Basically they were all friends, they always went there to visit Juan; do homework projects at night. So I said if those are friends, then we should include a new description in the dictionary for friends like that because whatever happened, if he was dropped, he fell, pushed off or whatever, it was the obligation of the friends to at least take him to a hospital to see that he is good and then take him home. Not just dump him home and expect someone to wash their hands away of whatever responsibility because I believe if you’re walking with friends, we have to watch out for each other.”
Gumercindo Baeza also recalled observing black and blue marks around his nephew’s neck. Unconfirmed reports to 7NEWS are that as Juan Baeza was being restrained he was also held around his neck. The post mortem conducted by Chief Pathologist Dr. Mario Estradabran reveal that Juan Baeza was suffering from an underlying health condition known as pulmonary edema that may have contributed to his death as he was restrained. The examination also reveal that Juan Baeza suffered a brain hemorrahge as a result of trauma to the head.
