For two years the family of Shawn Copius, 23, and the Belizean public have clamoured to have wealthy Belize City businessman, Chay Ben Abou-Nehra, 32, prosecuted for Copius’ shooting death, which occurred on September 17, 2005.
Because the history of Belize is that no rich person has ever been convicted and sentenced to jail, it was the opinion of some that Abou-Nehra, a very rich man, would never be convicted. Yesterday they were proven right in Belize City.
Abou-Nehra, charged with manslaughter, walked out of Supreme Court a free man after Justice Adolph Lucas at about 3:20 p.m. directed the jury of six women and three men to find him not guilty of manslaughter. Under Belize law, the accused cannot be retried for the same crime.
Justice Lucas was disgusted with the performance of the Crown’s witnesses, three policemen whose testimonies were crucial for the prosecution. These were the testimonies of PC Darius Ramos, Sgt. Clement Cacho and Sgt. Anthony Polonio. Ramos had been serving the department for 7 years, and Polonio had 19 years service. Cacho had been in the department for 14 years.
Incredibly, the policemen told the court that they could not be positive that the man named Abou-Nehra, who now sat in the box, was the same man that they arrested and charged for the murder of Copius in 2005.
Judge Lucas said to the court: “You have two worthless and wicked policemen who appeared in front of me, PCs Ramos and Polonio. Since they have internal problems, they should be investigated. Taking my court as a joke …”
The judge further stated that he just could not understand how the men could say that they don’t know the person to whom they spoke, the person who they said they escorted to the police station in a vehicle.
Two years ago five police witnesses gave testimony about evidence they had observed at the scene of the shooting, which, they alleged, had occurred outside the home/yard of the accused, which is at the corner of Lottie Waight Street and Meighan Avenue in the Kings Park area. (Chay Ben Abou-Nehra is a man who is well-connected politically. Those who know Meighan Avenue will understand what we mean.)
The police witnesses all visited the scene in 2005, made their observations and took as evidence six expended shells, a pair of slippers and a rag, all found at the scene, along with a 9mm Glock pistol and 8 live rounds of ammunition. They also took possession of a magazine which, they said, they got from the accused.
With all that, the policemen insisted to the court that they could not say for sure that the man they interrogated in September 2005, was the same man now on trial in front of them, Chay Ben Abou-Nehra.
When the shocking news was relayed to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Lutchman Sooknandan, he said that he would take seriously the words of the judge, and would be giving his concerns in writing to the Police Department.
Before the end of the day the Commissioner of Police, Gerald Westby, informed the media that he had indeed received a call from the DPP, and that, “His office will not, in any way, condone any misconduct on the part of police officers, and if the investigation proves wrong-doing on any officer’s part, then disciplinary action will be taken.”
Crown Counsel Tracy Sosa had called her first witness to the stand shortly around 10:20 that morning. He was Corporal Wilfred Warrior, followed by Scenes of Crime technician, Daniel Daniels, and then a third witness, PC Darius Ramos, who was then followed by Sgt. Anthony Polonio. The investigating officer, Sgt. Clement Cacho, took the stand in the afternoon.
But when none of the police officers pointed out the accused as the same person whom they arrested for the crime in 2005, prosecutor Sosa had no choice but to inform the judge, first in the absence of the jury and later in their presence, that she had lost the battle.
Having to close her case against Abou-Nehra meant Sosa could not call four other formal witnesses in her case – the doctor; the forensic analyst; the Belize Police Department armorer and the deceased’s mother, Carolyn Copius.
Four of the five officers, excluding the Scenes of Crime technician, Daniel Daniels, had gathered evidence at the crime scene and had spoken with a man who had given his name, they said, as Abou-Nehra.
Cpl. Warrior was the first officer at the scene, at about 4:00 a.m., on September 17. He said he was in the company of another officer and two BDF personnel.
Cpl. Warrior said he spoke with a man, but did not say in his testimony whether or not the man who had spoken to him that night was Abou-Nehra. But Crown Counsel Sosa never asked him the question, because, she said, he had already told her that he could not remember the man’s face.
While Cpl. Warrior seemed genuine in his testimony, the same could not be said for the other three officers – PC Ramos, Sgt. Polonio and Sgt. Cacho, who testified that they had spoken with a man who gave his name as Abou-Nehra, but they could not say if he was the same man seated in the dock.
PC Ramos told the court that although he saw a man who gave his name as Abou-Nehra, he only saw him for about 3 minutes, and could not identify the man.
He confirmed this when asked by the judge why he could not identify the accused in the box now as the man he had spoken with back in 2005.
Sgt. Polonio, who also visited the scene back in 2005, also said that the man had said his name was Abou-Nehra. He had spoken with him for 20 minutes, much longer than PC Ramos did, he said, but he still could not identify Abou-Nehra.
According to DPP Sooknandan, in Polonio’s evidence that he had given in 2005, he, Polonio, never told anyone about any such description of the man he had spoken with.
Polonio told the court that the man he had spoken with was not the accused, but a different man.
When Justice Lucas asked him why was it that he could not identify Abou-Nehra, he said that it was because the man he had spoken with had a long beard and was dressed in a rough kind of manner, said Polonio. (According to DPP Sooknandan, in the evidence Polonio gave in 2005, he had never given anyone any such description of the man with whom he had spoken.)
The judge then asked him if he had ammesia. Polonio responded, saying, “No”
In 2005, the then DPP, Kirk Anderson, had ordered that police charge Abou-Nehra with murder, but the Commissioner of Police, Gerald Westby, refused to obey the instruction.
Abou-Nehra was later charged, almost a year later, in July, 2006, with manslaughter.
Then in July/August of this year, his case was scheduled to begin in front of Justice John Gonzalez, but a nolle prosequi (inability/unwillingness to continue the prosecution) was entered by the new DPP, Lutchman Sooknandan, because of a legal technicality involving the prosecutor, Cecil Ramirez. Abou-Nehra had walked out of court a free man.
A caution statement given to police by Abou-Nehra that went missing before Sooknandan took office, never resurfaced. It had been in the hands of the police, and no one has ever been held accountable or charged in the matter of the missing statement.
The DPP himself said that, “It was the most shameful miscarriage of justice I have ever seen…to see senior policemen show this kind of behaviour in open court was a disgrace…”
In a press release issued by the Opposition United Democratic Party today, the UDP said that it was not necessary for any investigation. The DPP should have immediately charged the policemen with perjury, the release said. Subsequent press releases from the Belize Independent Media Association (BIMA), the Public Service Union (PSU) and Vision Inspired by the People (VIP) all lambasted Wednesday afternoon’s travesty of justice in the Supreme Court.