After delays, appeal against Araceli Cahueque comes to court

The Court of Appeal has been considering the appeal of the Crown against Aracely Cahueque since 2016. She is the former Corozal resident and former beauty queen accused of abetment of the murder of nineteen year old Raylene Dyer. Cahueque is now twenty-three years old and resides in Costa Rica, where she had been recently studying. After some difficulty locating her, she has been served with the notice of appeal and related documents and has obtained new legal representation. In October 2010, Cahueque along with Roaring Creek construction workers twenty-one year old Darren Banner, twenty year old Jason Anderson and twenty-four year old U.B. student Brandon Budna were all arrested. The latter three were charged with the gruesome murder. Dyer, whose body was never found, is believed to have been butchered and disposed of in an alleged conspiracy to steal her newly born son, with Cahueque portrayed as the mastermind. But all four were controversially acquitted in the Belmopan Supreme Court nearly four years ago this month after then-attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley successfully persuaded Judge Denis Hanomansingh to disallow a statement from Budna, who is legally blind, as evidence. The case has been continued to the next session of the court in June.