Photo: Elmer Nah, accused
Missing documents for the case file caused the sitting magistrate at the Belmopan Magistrate Court to adjourn the preliminary inquiry until November 8, 2023
by Marco Lopez
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 19, 2023
On Wednesday, October 18, Elmer Nah, the former police officer accused of the January 2023 triple murder of David, Jon, and Vivian Ramnarace, returned to the lower court in Belmopan for a preliminary inquiry. This proceeding, however, did not take place. Missing documents from the police case file forced the sitting magistrate to adjourn the case until November 8, 2023.
Present in court for the first time was the special prosecutor, Terrence Williams, who was retained by the Government of Belize to prosecute this case. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, and her office were recused from hearing this case due to the DPP’s proximity to the accused, since she is the estranged wife of Nah’s uncle, former head of the Police Department’s Command Operations Strike Team, Marco Vidal.
Attorney spokesperson for the victims’ family, Arthur Saldivar shared in an interview yesterday that the presence of the special prosecutor is a good indicator of the progress being made in the case. He said that the frequency of appearance of the accused in court is an indication of the level of urgency being attached to this case.
He is optimistic that with the preliminary inquiry (PI) set to take place on November 8 – by the next session of the High Court – Nah may appear to stand trial.
For now, the PI that is to take place will determine if the elements of the offense of murder have been laid out in the case brought by the prosecution. Following this proceeding the case will be sent up to the High Court in preparation for trial.
Saldivar noted that missing files are not an uncommon occurrence in cases, and pointed out that in fact, documents controlled by the police go missing frequently.
“It’s not unheard of that a file in some situation, may have turned up without document in matters like this; it has happened – and it’s happening all too frequently in Belize,” Saldivar said.
“We are hoping that this is not the case here, and in that regard, the Police Department is being put on notice. They are the ones who have had conduct and control of the file in this matter between them and the DPP office. So, we don’t want that kind of thing to go forward; we are not casting any aspersions on anyone at this particular time. It may simply have been an oversight in relation to documents not being included in the file, but I believe the documents will be found and put forward,” Saldivar stated.
He shared that, based on his understanding, the documents missing from the case file are not critical documents. The special prosecutor, Terrence Williams also believes that the issue will be set right by the time the scheduled adjournment comes up in November.
Williams, who is a Jamaican attorney, said that he understands the case quite well. During comments made to the media yesterday, he said, “I thank Ms. Elrington for her assistance, and we are ready to go.”
The first cousin of Vivian Ramnarace, Deon Pascasio, during his comments following yesterday’s proceeding, outlined that the family remains cautiously optimistic until the end of the trial.
“While things seem to be making some progress, what we have been noticing is that there has been some serious protections for Mr. Nah, some unprecedented protection,” Pascasio (who pointed to the number of armed police officers who escort Nah every time he enters or leaves the court) believes.
He said that this concerns the family.
“Because we want to know, who are they afraid of, because this begs a lot of questions from our standpoint. Because we haven’t seen them operate like this before, even coming right here. So, we continue to be cautiously optimistic in the system and the way things are going,” Pascasio went on to say.
As mentioned, Nah will return to court on November 8 for this high-profile case. He is being represented by Lynden Jones.