Alexander Noel Torres is charged for the murder of Karaoke King

Alexander Noel Torres

Alexander Noel Torres, a resident of Belize City, was today arraigned in the Belmopan Magistrates’ Court for the murder of Daniel Aguirre, the KTV Latino King. His charred remains were found in his taxi early last Saturday morning. When police got to the scene in the Arizona area of Teakettle Village on the George Price Highway, Aguirre’s vehicle was still on fire. His remains were buried on Thursday following a post mortem examination that tagged his cause of death as inconclusive. While Torres was charged today with his murder, the Director of Public Prosecutions says that there is no eyewitness to the actual killing. The Prosecution’s evidence rests on a confession contained in a statement, made by Torres under caution, to the police. At this stage, no issue as to the voluntariness of that statement has arisen. According to the D.P.P., Cheryl Lynn Vidal, “certain matters raised in the statement have been confirmed independently and there is other circumstantial evidence which bolsters the case for the Crown.”  Vidal writes in an email that the police have also been able to recover a knife, which according to Torres, is the murder weapon. Police also retrieved the firearm which had been taken from the deceased at the time of his killing. Earlier this week, Torres and three others including a minor, a woman and her husband, were charged with offences relating to that firearm. Charges against the three have now been withdrawn. The D.P.P. explains that the identification of the deceased was not dependent on the result of the post-mortem examination. However, due to circumstantial evidence and the admission by Torres, the remains were identified as that of Aguirre. Vidal says that forensic evidence is not the only type of evidence which is capable of proving the manner in which a victim lost his life. And that in Aguirre’s death, there is direct evidence from Torres on the killing of Aguirre to seem to offer confirmation.