Joseph Budna is Arraigned for Abetment to Murder  

Is the state conspiring against self-styled journalist Joseph Budna following his latest brush with the law, and is there sufficient evidence to charge him criminally for helping to commit a capital offense?  This morning, the controversial figure appeared before the magistrate’s court in Belmopan, where he was arraigned on a single count of abetment to murder.  This in connection with an incident that occurred three years ago which resulted in the death of fifty-year-old Guatemalan national Armando Cacao.  On July twenty-third, 2021, Cacao’s lifeless body was discovered on Guyana Street in Belmopan with a cut wound to the throat.  At the time, two persons were detained for questioning, but it wasn’t until Friday that the Belize Police Department formally arrested and charged Joseph Budna for his alleged role in the crime.  Of particular note is that he has previously run afoul of the law in Guatemala where he absconded from a prison facility and made his way back to Belize.  Since his return, Budna has also been involved in several incidents, including an attack that resulted in the death of a young man identified only as Kevin.  Tonight, we begin with an interview with the Commissioner of Police and Budna who spoke with the media after his arraignment.

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I had put together a team of specialized investigators from Special Branch, Major Crime, CIB, and GI3. And I had tasked them to look at all the past murders that we have had. So what they’re doing is that they’re going particularly in the Cayo and Belize district area. Those areas that we do have the SOE. So for them to look at all those murder investigations and see if they can go back and re interview witnesses, look at video footages, read the statements and see what additional work could be done to be able to identify the perpetrator of these murders. And that team that I had put together, which is headed by ACP Dawson. I must say had been doing a very commendable job in, the sense that they have been able to solve three murders. One, we had the murder of the man who was killed in Fresh Pond during the robbery. For that, the guy Arnold was charged. Then they also solved the murder with Coleman in Belmopan.  And then this one now for which Budna has been charged for, I think, abetment to murder. Again the perpetrator or the principal offender in that particular instance from what we gather had left the country and was killed, I think, in Honduras. So the actual perpetrator of that crime from what we are gathering has been killed in Honduras. So we were only able to arrest Budna because there’s evidence to suggest that he had something to do with that particular crime, and the police do have the evidence. So that’s the reason why he was arrested.”

 

Joseph Budna, Charged for Abetment to murder

“The government is doing a witch hunt against me. I had been an activist. I had stand up for what is right. I had spoken. I did a lie from in front of the Ministry of Police. And when I did that, immediately charges started to come against me. Even though there’s not sufficient evidence. They try to put me in prison. They are trying everything. They bring charge whole of this week to me. And if they find me dead in my cell, right, it’s the, it’s the government to be blamed, right? If I am found in my cell, it’s the government to be blamed, right? Because they’re trying to get me to prison. If I don’t get my medication, it’s not that I deny. If they don’t want to give me my medication, they are trying to get rid of me for speaking what is right.  This is after doing a lie on Friday afternoon in front of the Ministry of National Security. That’s police.”

 

Reporter

“Are you saying the charges are false? Huh? Are the charges false?”

 

Joseph Budna

“They are false. There is no evidence to the charges. Right? There’s no evidence. So if I am found dead in a cell block, it’s the police.”