Gabriel Orellano Drowning Case Filed with DPP as Accountability Remains Uncertain

Will anyone be held accountable for the death of six-year-old Stella Marris student, Gabriel Pablo Orellano? Police Commissioner Chester Williams says that that’s a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide. On February 3, Gabriel got out of the schoolyard without the knowledge of the teachers and made his way on foot to the Hangar area where he drowned in the sea. The child walked the streets of Belize City passing public places like a restaurant and a gas station, while scores of onlookers saw him. While many are outraged at his death and mourn his loss, no one intervened and only a few contacted the authorities. Today the commissioner confirmed that the police investigation into Orellano’s death has concluded, and the file will be forwarded to the DPP as early as today or by early next week. Williams says he feels that proving liability would be difficult but at the end of the day, he feels society at large failed Orellano.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Certainly as a father I was saddened by it. I wish I would have been in his path when he was running through the streets. I certainly would have taken charge of him and get him back to school but I was not there. I also wish that those person who encountered him that they would have seen the need to hold him and inquire from him where he was going, where his parents were or even take him back to the school. It’s very very sad and any and every parent would feel the way I feel because if it were our child we would have wanted for someone to be there for him. So it’s sad.”

Gabriel Orellano was laid to rest on February 11, after a mass held at St. Martin de Porres Parish. Minister of Education Francis Fonseca vowed that his parents would be appraised of the investigation once it concluded.