Perez opts for judge trial

(CNS): The man accused of the murder of Canadian national Martin Gareau (left) has opted for a judge alone trial over his right to be heard by a jury. The trial of Josue Carillo-Perez, a Honduran national from Bodden Town, was adjourned on Monday morning until 16 September when Justice Roy Anderson will hear the Crown’s case against him without a jury.  Gareau’s badly beaten body was found in his home in Beach Bay in May 2008 by his work colleagues. Police charged Perez with the murder on 13 June last year.

Following the late receipt by the judge of the case documents and a number of submissions filed by defence counsel Anthony Akiwumi on Monday morning when the trial was scheduled to commence, the judge adjourned the proceedings and the first witnesses in the Crown’s case against Perez.

Gareau (47) who was originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, had been working in the Cayman Islands in the construction industry for almost four years when he was found dead at his Bodden Town home by work colleagues who had gone searching for him when he failed to show up for work on Tuesday 20 May 2008, the day after the Discovery Day holiday weekend.

According to autopsy reports Gareau died of multiple injuries to his head and body caused by both a blunt and sharp object. When Perez made his first court appearance charged with the murder it was revealed by the Crown that Gareau had been introduced to Perez in April 2008.

Prosecuting attorney Trevor Ward said that evidence in the case against Perez included two fingerprint impressions in blood on an inner door of Gareau’s home. However, Perez has denied being present or any involvement in the murder.