An audio and written statement by Valerie Coombs, the mother of murdered businessman Jason Coombs, 38, was forwarded to Amandala today, questioning the lack of progress of the police’s investigation into the Pre-Con Limited owner’s execution-style murder at his business place late in the evening of November 11, 2009.
In response to the report that two inspectors (Amandala is reliably informed that that has since been changed to a sergeant and inspector) were assigned to the case in February, Mrs. Coombs asks, “How can the police investigate the police? What good will that serve? It’s like handing the robbers the key to the vault.”
On an appearance on KREM Radio’s “Wake Up Belize Morning Vibes,”the Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries had substantiated the report.
But Mrs. Coombs alleges that when she attempted to call Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) offices in Belize City yesterday, Wednesday, to find out the status of her son’s murder case, she was unable to find out anything, and so she called Jeffries.
Valerie Coombs narrates what allegedly transpired:
“I received a rude awakening; he informed me that he did not assign anyone. The media did that report. He said the case was ongoing and that they did not yet locate the suspect. I said how can that be, as several reliable sources have seen the suspect still in the city. His response was that they should come forward and put it in writing. At this point I realized that no one was looking for my son’s killers, as they expected the citizens to do the job that they should be doing. He then said that he had no time to go back-and-forth with me, thanked me for the call and hung up the phone.”
Mrs. Coombs has appeared on three U.S. television stations affiliated with the three major networks – ABC (WPBF, Channel 25), NBC (WPTV-TV, Channel 5), and CBS (WPEC-TV, Channel 12), respectively – in the last month. She has brought the case up with state Senator Bill Nelson (Republican of Florida), whose office has promised to bring up the matter with the State Department.
The NBC affiliate even interviewed Channel 7 news director Jules Vasquez in its story, and all the stations featured Valerie Coombs displaying stories from Belize’s print media on the Coombs murder (including the Amandala).
In each story her message was the same: justice and closure. She closed the audio statement by saying: “This family will never stop fighting for justice for Jason Coombs, regardless. Wake up Belizeans, and take back your country from the thugs, because when the gangs take over Belize and you are like prisoners in your homes, it will be too much, too little and too late.”
We were unable to reach the Commissioner this morning, but officer in charge of CIB Superintendent Julio Valdez told us he was not aware of any phone calls made to the office by Mrs. Coombs yesterday.
Nevertheless, he assured us that the investigation is ongoing and that the department is following all leads it gets in connection with the case.