Anhang Trial Paused For D.N.A. Checks

Published: Thursday, October 26, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

ANHANG TRIAL PAUSED FOR D.N.A. CHECKS

Murdered online gambling exec's alleged assailant could be cleared by DNA tests says defence lawyer

Reporting from Puerto Rico, the Associated Press network says that the trial of a man accused of slaying a Canadian online gambling executive in San Juan's colonial district was postponed this week to permit DNA testing on blood, skin and hair found under the victim's fingernails.

Jonathan Roman, 23, faces a first-degree murder charge in the September 2005 beating and stabbing death of Adam Anhang, formerly of Winnipeg, who was walking through Old San Juan with his wife when he was attacked.

Roman worked as a dishwasher at a San Juan restaurant that Anhang had purchased for his wife, Aureau Vazquez Rios.

The parents of the victim, who moved to this U.S. Caribbean territory from Winnipeg in 2004, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against his widow and her siblings, accusing them of conspiring in the slaying and of looting his estate.

Roman, who has pleaded not guilty, is free on bail.

Defence lawyer Juan Troche said he was confident the DNA test would prove his innocence. Judge Carlos Caban scheduled a status conference for Nov. 16, but noted that the tests may take longer to complete and could further delay the trial.

The judge also granted defence requests to allow as evidence photographs that a neighbour took of the crime scene, as well as statements that Anhang's widow made to investigators the night of the slaying.

According to the lawsuit filed in September in U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico, Anhang intended to seek his wife's consent to a divorce the night he was attacked. Anhang, who married Vazquez in March 2005, had recently decided a prenuptial agreement favoured his wife and discovered she had been unfaithful, the lawsuit alleges.

Hours after the slaying, the brother and sister of his wife allegedly took Anhang's cars and other possessions from his apartment and the family has since "fraudulently" taken over his assets, the lawsuit said.

It seeks damages of US$500 000 and also names Roman as a defendant.

All the defendants "combined, conspired and aided and abetted each other" or participated in the slaying, the lawsuit alleges.

The parents, Abraham and Barbara Anhang, said they were hoping to hear an account of the Sept. 22, 2005, attack from their son's widow. Police said Vazquez has declined to co-operate with investigators.

"We were very sad that our son's widow has chosen not to co-operate with the authorities so now that it appears that the only way we're going to get her version of the story is by having her examined in our civil suit," Abraham Anhang said last month.