It was the murder permanently etched in the public's imagination for those famously callous words delivered as a soldier lay dead on the ground in front of his family: "next boxer, next boxer!" That's what one of the lawmen said after a BDF soldier fatally shot off duty soldier Jessie Escobar in a grocery store in Santa Familia in September of 2021. At the time, Escobar was in civilian clothes and shopping with his wife and child.
Now, the DPP has secured the conviction of two soldiers and a policeman for their roles in that cold killing. Last week two of them were sent to serve hard time for perverting the course of justice and yesterday in Belmopan Justice Creary-Dixon found private Raheem Valencio guilty of murder.
The DPP discussed the verdict with 7News today:
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"Yes. The judge delivered her verdict yesterday as she found him guilty of murder. So this was in relation to the actual killing of Jesse Escobar."
"They did, as part of the defence, advance that he did not intend to kill Jesse Escobar. The main part of the defense, however, was self defense. In relation to intention, the judge would have been required to look at all of the circumstances of the case, and in her judgment, she said she considered the weapon that was used, the distance from which the shot was fired, and all of the circumstances leading up to what had taken place."
"And of course, in this case, the weapon used was an M4 carbine, which it came out in evidence had a killing range of over 400ft, and Jesse was just a few feet away, and the weapon was aimed towards his chest when the trigger was pulled. So it was certain death. So the judge did not agree that there was no evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to kill Jesse when he fired the shot."
"But as I said, the main defense was self-defense. He said that he felt that his life was in danger, but we were thankfully able to satisfy the court beyond a reasonable doubt that this man who was not approaching him aggressively but yes, admittedly, was walking towards him but had only a plastic cup in his hand, was really not threatening his life, and he could not have honestly believed that his life was in danger."
Valencio will be sentenced on February 9th.
