BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Nov. 26, 2020– Back in October of 2018, 10 months after career barber Fareed Ahmad, 39, was shot and killed in one of the most sensational murders of 2017 inside his vehicle near Hattieville on the George Price Highway, Chief Magistrate Sharon Fraser committed Constable Michelle Brown, 24, to stand trial.
Inside the vehicle with Ahmad at the time was Brown, who was attached to the Special Assignment Team of the Eastern Division South police command.
The trial against PC Michelle Brown continued on Tuesday, November 24, in front of Justice Colin Williams, where Ahmad’s wife, Irma Dyer, gave testimony to the state of affairs she found when she visited the scene.
Up next was PC Abner Itsa, the officer who issued the service weapon to Brown, thought to have been used in Ahmad’s murder.
There seem to have been a discrepancy in Itsa’s testimony in comparison to the statement he issued in 2017. He testified to the description of the service weapon being a black Beretta firearm, but later it was discovered that the brand and serial number he gave were wrong.
He was allowed to reference the 2017 report, which indicated that the weapon was a black Bursa 9-millimeter gun, carrying a magazine with 15 live rounds.
Brown’s attorney, Anthony Sylvestre, attempted to discredit the Itsa’s testimony under cross-questioning, asking why he (Itsa) did not attach the log sheet which he claimed that Brown signed when he gave her the gun, to his report, which he gave 7 days after the murder.
According to Itsa, the weapon was never returned by PC Brown despite him trying to contact her by cell phone.
A third witness, Jason Betson, a resident of Mile 16 on the George Price Highway, took the stand and shared information on the accident scene that unfolded in front of his home on that December 28, 2017 morning.
He said that after Ahmad’s BMW SUV crashed into a parked truck, he and other witnesses pulled Ahmad and Brown from the vehicle. Brown allegedly told Betson that she and Ahmad had been fighting.
Also called to testify were Sgt. Lloyd Molina, attached to the Hattieville Police Station, and Corporal Lydia Kerr.
Senior Counsel Shanice Lovell, representing the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, called fire fighter Evan Martinez to testify, during which he said that two days after the murder on December 29, 2017, he and a team from his department were called in to the Queen Street Station to pry open the mangled BMW.
That was when he discovered the missing service weapon that was issued to PC Brown, in the panel of the front passenger door.
The weapon was handed over to Scenes of Crime personnel Shernadine Peters, who was also called to stand and testified that it contained 13 live rounds, one of which was in the chamber.
Brown is represented by Senior Counsel Simeon Sampson and Anthony Sylvestre, while Senior Counsel Shanice Lovell is representing the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The case continues on Monday November 30, when the prosecution is expected to call more witnesses.