Two men who were facing charges in connection with the October 2012 burglary of the Caye Caulker Water Taxi Terminal from which an estimated $10,000 worth of items were stolen, had their case struck out today for want of prosecution.
Jeremy Rhaburn, 27, a resident of 9 Eden Site, an alley off North Front Street, walked out of court after he was freed of burglary and handling stolen goods charges. Rhaburn’s alleged partner in crime, however, Kevin Jex, for whom a removal order had to be secured from the court, was returned to the Belize Central Prison, where he is on remand and awaiting trial for murder.
Rhaburn was accused of murder after he was booked on the burglary and handling stolen goods charges.
Following many adjournments of the case, the trial was scheduled to begin today. The case for the prosecution, however, crashed when only one of the three burglary victims turned up at court.
The witness who turned up, Jose Marin, a Belize City resident who once managed a business at the water taxi terminal, before the trial could commence, indicated to the court that that he did not wish to give evidence.
With no evidence to proceed with the charges, Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer struck out the charges against the two men for want of prosecution.
Between Sunday, October 14, 2012, and Monday, October 15, the Caye Caulker Water Taxi Terminal was burglarized and items totaling around $10,000 in value were stolen from three different businesses that operated at the terminal.
The items that were reported stolen when the burglary occurred included goods from Nobos Store, which is run by businesswoman Sabiha Islam Nouren.
Nobos Store lost a laptop, 2 cellphones, 2 boxes of Cuban cigars, a box of cigarette lighters and $4,300 Belize currency in various denominations.
Fokrul Amin, 31, a Bangladeshi businessman, lost his black Nokia cellphone which contained $250 worth of calling credit and $3,000 in Belize currencies of different denominations.
A third businessman, Adullah Khalique, who operates Bondu International Store, lost a total of $1,527 in items that were stolen.
On October 22, 2012, Rhaburn and Jex appeared before Senior Magistrate, Sharon Frazer, who arraigned them on the two charges.
Kevin Jex has been on remand for the November 5, 2013 murder of Desmond Miller, a Belize City Council security guard who was standing in front of the council’s office building on North Front Street when he was approached by Jex, who allegedly hit him in the back of the head with a piece of wood.
Miller sustained a large cut wound to the head and later died from his injury.