Graphic evidence presented in Belmopan court on the murder of Raylene Dyer

Aracely Cahueque

While Viola Pook will get a retrial, Aracely Cahueque is on trial in the Belmopan Supreme Court. In October 2010 Cahueque and three men were accused of the horrific murder of an eighteen year old UB student, Raylene Dyer. Roaring Creek residents Brandon Budna, Jason Anderson and Darren Banner were accused of butchering the petite Dyer and throwing her body in the river. It was never found. The men, it is believed, were under instructions from Cahueque, a then nineteen year old UB student. Three and a half years later, the case is finally before the Court, but already it is falling to pieces. As News Five reported on Thursday, Budna, Anderson and Banner have walked free because Supreme Court Justice Hanomansingh ruled that their confessions were not properly obtained by Police. Aracely Cahueque remains before the Court, and her attorney is seeking her acquittal on the same grounds even before the full trial gets underway. Mike Rudon has been following the tragic, disturbing story.

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Mike Rudon, Reporting

Three year old Ravaan will never know her mother. In October 2010 eighteen year old Raylene Dyer went missing. Within days three men and a woman had been arrested. The confessions obtained pointed to an unspeakably cruel murder. The accused men at the time told Police that they had abducted Raylene, taken her to this slaughtering area in the Valley of Peace community, and cut off her head before throwing her body in the river.

Ravaan

Indira Cayetano, Sister of Raylene Dyer

“It has been three years, five months and six days since they killed my sister and we have never really gotten over it because we didn’t get closure. We didn’t find any body to bury, but as time goes past it heals the wounds. I look at it differently, because you have just experienced how beautiful our legacy is. She is smart and she has brought us a lot of joy. There is no way she can replace her mom, but my niece is here in our lives. It could have been worse, we could have lost both my niece and my sister, but God allowed us to find her.”

Brandon Budna, Jason Anderson and Darren Banner confessed to the grisly crime, providing excruciating details which told a horrific tale. But still, they walked free.

Indira Cayetano

Indira Cayetano

“They took the Police and showed the Police where they killed my sister, and as a note, we were searching in that same area and they showed us the area where my sister was killed, where her rosary fell off when they cut off her head. The blood on the rosary proved positive to be my sister’s blood, because they had sent it away for DNA testing, and one Police touched me and told me that it is my sister’s rosary so what did they do with my sister? They killed her, they killed her and that’s the bottom line. Like what my mom said, she doesn’t know why she was hoping for justice, because in Belize there is no justice. We were a bit disappointed but when we got together and we talked about it and we prayed about it, justice is for God. While they got away here on earth, they’ll never get away in heaven, and at the end of the day, they will be the ones when they close their eyes they will remember my sister, the innocent girl that they killed.”

Aracely Cahueque today appeared alone to face charges of abetment to murder. She has been linked through the confessions of the three men. She has been accused of masterminding Raylene’s murder.

Dickie Bradley

Dickie Bradley, Attorney for Aracely Cahueque

“A jury has been selected, and I have a duty to challenge a statement that is alleged to have been obtained from her following the proper procedure. That is underway, and then based on the outcome of that the jury returns to court and proceeds to hear evidence in relation to her matter. I cannot say more because this takes place away from the jury. However, Aracely Cahueque is charged on three counts of abetment to commit a murder. Aracely Cahueque was a student of the University of Belize, she is a former Queen of the Bay for Corozal, and she was studying to be a nurse, and the only link between her and this matter that happened is two statements, and so I cannot go further than that.”

The alleged motive for murder is nothing short of bizarre. Authorities believe that Cahueque wanted Raylene’s newborn baby girl Ravaan for herself, because she had allegedly convinced her boyfriend at the time that she was pregnant. The entire scenario is chilling.

Raylene Dyer

Indira Cayetano

“We know she was the one who took my sister from Allene’s house…my other sister Allene’s house…and took her to Belmopan. I have someone who saw her on the James Bus, the express bus, with the small baby, holding the baby. She was the one holding the baby the entire way to Belmopan and that individual who was on her way to PG saw when they got off at Guanacaste Park, she and Raylene. So we know she’s the one. I don’t know how she can live with herself but as I said God is the final judge and he never sleeps.  I believe the case wasn’t well put together. There were a lot of things that were left out. For example when Aracely took my sister from Allene’s house, she threw a spiral notebook into the house and said – I deh come right back, lesgo with me Raylene. In that spiral notebook had some doodling and notes from her UB class. At the back of the book had the baby’s new name that she was planning to give the baby. It had the guest list for the christening…it had the menu for the christening, so it was pre-meditated. Before she even got the baby she had all these things set in place.”

Like with the three men who have walked, Raylene’s family has left Cahueque’s fate in God’s hands, since they have lost all trust in the justice system. But there is still much pain and frustration at a loss of life compounded by a loss of hope for justice.

Indira Cayetano

“She did them no harm. She was eighteen years old, one skinny girl and it took three men to hold her down to cut off her head. Just imagine…and nothing comes out of it. They walk out of Belmopan Supreme court free men because they did not wrong.”

As Aracely Cahueque was escorted out of Court today, she could have easily been mistaken for a visiting dignitary, rather than the woman accused of orchestrating one of the most disturbing murders in recent memory. Mike Rudon for News Five.