Former cop’s fate still undetermined

Dean Lindo

His name was at the center of controversy when a questionable incident occurred while he was with the Police Department.  In fact, Aldo Ayuso stood trial and was later cleared of a Manslaughter charge following the shooting death in February of 2005 of twenty-one year old Leslie Rogers Jr.  He never denied shooting Rogers, but has always maintained he acted in self defense.  Later that year, Ayuso was dismissed from the Police Department due to what the police termed as “other matters” not related to the death of Rogers.  It had to do with an altercation which happened a while after the fatal shooting at a Chinese establishment on Newtown Barracks.  During the confrontation Ayuso allegedly pulled a gun on the complainants, who reported him to his superiors.  Ayuso took the matter to court and challenged his dismissal on the grounds that it was done without due process.  Well, today the Chief Justice, Abdulai Conteh agreed with Ayuso’s attorney, Senior Counsel Dean Lindo, and set aside the dismissal.  The CJ ordered that the matter go back to the Commissioner of Police to once again conduct a tribunal and to follow the proper procedures.  But as Lindo explained to News Five after the ruling, one key area was circumvented and that was the determining factor in the ruling.

Dean Lindo, Attorney for Aldo Ayuso

“Before firing the Commissioner of Police should have referred the matter to the Solicitor General and on the advice of the Solicitor General he would have been able to dismiss.  So he’s saying that he’s sending the matter back to the Commissioner to do those things which he ought to have done. The matter went to the Security Services Commission. We argued and succeeded in that, that the Security Services Commission did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter, so it should never have gone there.  See, anybody below the rank of Assistant Inspector of Police must be heard before a tribunal and if there’s an appeal it goes to the Belize Advisory Council. This one somehow went to the SSC, they sent it to the Advisory Council who sent it back to them, who sent it back.  So we were saying that this thing was very badly mishandled.”

Another argument for Lindo was that Ayuso was entitled to an attorney and disclosure of the evidence against him, but that was never afforded.