Last week Joseph Budna was the buzz of the nightly news - after a 16-year-old was shot and killed in his San Ignacio bedroom. Budna is not a suspect since the shots came from outside, and Budna was also a victim since he was also shot. But he lamented that - in his public pronouncements - the Commissioner of police focused on his sexuality - and not the fact that a minor is dead and the culprit is at large. On Sunup today we asked the Compol for a comment on Budna's claims.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I think that Vasquez did a good job with Joseph Budna. I don't see me adding more to it other than the fact that everytime Budna finds himself in trouble he runs to the media and well I thought Shyne was the only one trying to be a movie star but Budna certainly got out Shyne that move that he put off crying or the media is not going to help. At the end of the day had he not taken the child to his house the child would be alive and based on what he had said to the investigators. That there was this other person who was upset because he didn't engage in that sort of activity with him. That too could have led to the child's death. So to say that we are just focused on his lifestyle and not the murder is certainly not the truth. His lifestyle may certainly have something to do with the murder and as such we have to look at his lifestyle so that we can ascertain possible suspects and motives. And then once we do that then it gives us a lead to the murderer, the suspect involved in the murder so the two of them are intertwined and he has to understand that."
For the record, Budna says the young man came to him seeking refuge - and he only took him in, out of sympathy.
