BELIZE CITY, Mon. Dec. 21, 2020– “From the onset of this incident, as a family, we were resolute to leave the matter up to the court and the hands of the law. And so there is a verdict, and we respect that verdict, and as a family, we will just continue to move on, pick up the pieces and move on from here”, were the words of Taheera Ahmad, sister of murdered businessman Fareed Ahmad, following a not guilty verdict handed down by Justice Colin Williams on Friday, December 18, for police constable Michelle Brown, who was accused of the 2017 murder of Ahmad.
Justice Williams, in his ruling, said that he did not believe portions of Brown’s testimony in which she accused a fellow officer of being the triggerman. The judge did, however, point out that in a court of law, Brown didn’t have to prove her innocence. He reminded the court that the prosecution had the burden of proving her guilt.
The judge then pointed out that the prosecution “dropped the ball” when they did not adequately prove that the weapon found in Ahmad’s BMW SUV was the murder weapon and that it was actually issued to Brown.
Taheera Ahmad also questioned why critical pieces of evidence were not presented during the trial.
“I think quite a bit came up during the trial. I think, as well, that there were certain names of officers that she also mentioned, and maybe, that is an element for question in terms of the prosecution and the DPP’s office. Why were those missing pieces not presented in the trial? It’s unfortunate how it ended up, but this is the process and we have to respect what arises out of it,” she said.
Justice Williams also highlighted that one of the witnesses for the prosecution testified that she took samples of what appeared to be bloodstains on the alleged murder weapon that was tested.
During the trial, however, those test results, which could have conclusively determined that this was the murder weapon, were never actually presented as evidence in the trial.
In the end, Justice Williams indicated that he was not satisfied that the prosecution proved that Brown shot Ahmad, and that she did so with an intent to kill.
Further commenting on the verdict and how the Ahmad family moves forward, Taheera Ahmad said, “At the end of the day, we are a God-fearing family and person or those persons will have to live with what they did and will have to give account to the best of judges, and so we will live with that.”
“But in terms of picking up the pieces, we will go and continue remembering Fareed as the loving brother and caring son and father and loving husband as he was, and continue living with those cherished memories, as we have been doing for the past three to four years,” she then said.