Julian Henry is Arraigned for Shooting Death
Julian Henry
Belmopan resident Julian Henry is spending his first night at the Belize Central Prison after he was arraigned earlier today in connection with a shooting in Las Flores last Friday. He was in custody in Belmopan since then and he has now been transferred to a jail cell in Hattieville. The allegation is that the shooting was accidental, so Henry was charged with manslaughter by negligence, but bail was not granted. Attorney Dickie Bradley spoke about what transpired today and shares some details on the incident. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Today, at the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court, twenty-six-year-old Julian Henry appeared in court to answer to a charge of manslaughter by negligence in the shooting death of his friend, twenty-one-year-old Daniel Orellano. The incident occurred on Friday night in the Las Flores community when a shotgun licensed to Henry allegedly discharged and caught Orellano in the neck and face and he died on the stop. Attorney Dickie Bradley says it is clearly an accident.
Dickie Bradley
Dickie Bradley, Attorney for Julian Henry
“It is one of those shocking things, but accidents do happen. This is clearly an accident. This is an accident for which there are witnesses. It is a fact that Julian Henry has a licensed shotgun. It is not a pistol, it is not a nine millimetre; this is a shotgun. He was having problems with the shotgun, minutes before he and his friends were to take off on Friday evening to go hunting many miles into the bush. There was somebody that came to the side of the house, they could not see as the aluminium windows were closed, and where Julian was standing, he turned around and there is an elevation and a drop the way the floor was built. And he turned around when the person had shouted and his other friend was heading to the door when the elevation caused him to stumble and the dratted shotgun gone off and instead of the one sole slug going up in the air, it hit the person in the back on the head from a side angle. There are witnesses and they gave their statements to the police so the police does know that that basically is what happened. Even up to when they arrived, Julian was out of his mind that something like that could have happened. They testified to that in the summary of the police facts; that he was hysterical, the shotgun was right there. The charge bears out the fact that the police are satisfied and they consulted with the learned Director of Public Prosecution who from the little information available was also satisfied and she directed that the charge should be manslaughter by negligence.”
The charge is a bailable offense and not an offense under the Firearms Act, but the magistrate, nevertheless, did not grant bail and remanded Henry to prison. Attorney Dickie Bradley says similarly to the manslaughter by negligence case involving Jasmine Hartin who is out on bail, Henry should have been afforded the same. But instead his client is being punished for an accident.
Daniel Orellano
Dickie Bradley
“Curiously enough, Julian was detained in police custody from Friday evening, which would mean that he had to sleep in less than satisfactory conditions Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night and Monday night. The constitution says that you must bring somebody to court no later than forty-eight hours and he was brought today and he will be sleeping in another unpleasant and unsatisfactory situation until he makes an application to the Supreme Court to uphold his right to bail and to his freedom.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
