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Eyewitness to police beating executed in golf cart

GeneralEyewitness to police beating executed in golf cart

His assailant didn’t care that the victim’s    pregnant girlfriend was with him in the cart

SAN PEDRO, Belize District, Wed. Jan. 17, 2018– The circumstances surrounding the deaths of Fareed Ahmad, 39, and Mario Vernon Jr., 24, have led, not only to charges against two police officers, but also to a further distrust of the Belize Police Department by the general public.

The murder of a San Pedro resident shortly after midnight on Monday has caused yet another outcry from a community suspicious of the nation’s law enforcement officers.

Alfredo Mansea Cowo, 26, was sitting with his pregnant girlfriend in a golf cart in front of the Jaguar’s night club on Barrier Reef Drive when he lost his life. An armed assailant, in a hoodie, walked up to him and opened fire, hitting him multiple times in the chest.

Cowo was transported to the San Pedro Polyclinic, and then by air to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), where he was certified dead by medical practitioners.

Cowo was no stranger to the press. In fact, last April he was featured in an article in the Amandala after he took out his phone and recorded police officers beating two women. He was one of five persons who were injured by the officers after they fired indiscriminately into the crowd of spectators. One of the officers allegedly also hit him in the face with his gun.

The officers walked free from the charges of wounding last week after the court dismissed the criminal case against them.

Following that ruling, Cowo provided NEWS 5 with an exclusive interview in which he explained that he believed his life was in jeopardy.

“Latta people tell me that when dehn bally come back dehn wahn come pay me a visit or come shoot me or kill me. I have to di watch over my shoulders because I don’t take no threat lightly,” he said.

He further told News 5, “Latta people tell me, yo know, because dehn bally go about di talk dehn business, what dehn wahn do when they get back their jobs.”

According to the Officer in Charge of San Pedro police, Henry Jemmoth, at this time there is no information to suggest that Cowo was killed as a result of the court matter involving police. Jemmoth further explained that the investigations are still premature, and investigators are relying on eyewitness accounts to help solve the case.

George Cowo, a brother of the deceased, said his brother was inside the vehicle with his girlfriend, watching a video on Facebook, when the shots roared out. He told the press that his brother, although already injured, sought cover underneath the golf cart. His girlfriend used her body to shield him from his assailant, but that didn’t stop the man from trying to inflict further injuries to ensure his death. Cowo’s girlfriend escaped injury because the gun reportedly snapped.

Cowo, a fisherman of the San Pedrito area of San Pedro Town, leaves behind 4 children and an unborn child.

 

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