November 4, 2009

Acquittal in Saskatchewan construction worker murder case

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

A verdict of not guilty has been returned in the case of a man accused of murdering a Saskatchewan construction worker employed in the Cayman Islands.

The body of Martin Gareau, 47, of Prince Albert, was discovered in May 2008 in the garage of his home in Bodden Town.

Gareau went to Cayman after Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 to work for a construction company owned by his cousin, Gilles Langlois.

Josue Carillo Perez was arrested for Gareau’s murder the following month.

However, Justice Roy Anderson acquitted Perez because circumstantial evidence presented by the Crown didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the brutal killing.

Crown prosecutors demonstrated with fingerprint evidence that Perez was likely at the scene of the murder.

But, there was evidence to suggest that if Perez had played any part, he was not alone.

Despite this, the Crown had presented the case with the defendant as the sole perpetrator.

“The particulars of this case do not contemplate that he did it in concert with anyone else,” explained the judge.

He said that while he believed it was possible Perez was involved, he could not say that he was sure.

Therefore, he returned a verdict of not guilty.

The defence attorney exposed a number of weaknesses in procedures used by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) to preserve, collect and document evidence at the crime scene.

For example, RCIPS officer Ronnie Pollard admitted on the witness stand that the wrong date was recorded for one of his trips to the crime scene and there was no note of identification on his evidence log.

He failed to record the exact location of a socked foot impression, which was taken from the crime scene and compared to that of the defendant.

He was also unable to tell the court the exact area on the door in Gareau’s home from which he had taken a swab sample of a fingerprint.

Pollard agreed that the prints were faded and faint.

The prosecution’s case depended on proof that the defendants fingerprint was made in blood.

The defence argued that the defendant had visited Gareau’s home a few weeks before the murder and the prints were formed through innocent contamination.

It was reported that Gareau was romantically interested in the roommate of Perez’s girlfriend.

They were all friends and had attended a barbecue at Gareau’s place a month before the murder.

Gareau’s relatives became concerned after he missed a family barbecue, didn’t answer his phone and didn’t show up for work.

They went to the house and called the police.

Guy Langlois, Gilles’ brother and Gareau’s cousin, described how he had arrived at Gareau’s house first and found the door open.

He explained how he had taken one step inside and saw blood on the floor, walls and stairway.

He stepped back outside as he realized that something horrible had happened.

Guy waited for Gilles, who arrived at the same time as the police.

The two brothers and the police officer entered the crime scene.

They found Gareau’s body lying in a pool of dried blood on the garage floor by his car.

The crime scene showed evidence of a considerable struggle.

None of them were wearing protective clothing.

Pathologist Dr. Bruce Hyma said Martin’s death would have occurred sometime between 24 hours and 72 hours before his body was discovered.

The victim had received multiple blunt and sharp force injuries.

The fatal wound was a fracture to his skull.

No evidence was presented in court which indicated a struggle between the deceased and his assailant or assailants.

The court heard that a size 13 footprint had been discovered at the crime scene, but Pollard had not taken a picture of that print.

It had not been included in the evidence gathering process.

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