Brit press: murder case against Ghurkhas to be dropped

The case appears to have been placed in the slow lane ever since fourteen-year-old David Zabaneh was killed by a gang of Ghurkhas in May of 2001. Today, Britain’s Daily Mirror tells us that after nearly two years of supposedly intense investigation the six soldiers accused of murder will be set free for lack of evidence. According to the by-lined story, British detectives encountered a “wall of silence” when they interrogated military men who were partying that night at Raul’s Rose Garden. Zabaneh and two underage friends were admitted to the strip club and while what happened next is not entirely clear, they became embroiled in a brawl between Ghurkhas and members of a Special Air Service team also in Belize for jungle training. Zabaneh was beaten senseless and died shortly after being flown to a Florida hospital. Over the last twenty-two months British Ministry of Defence spokesmen have told the press that the long delay in bringing the defendants to justice was caused by the thoroughness of the investigation and the need to find highly qualified interpreters to accurately question the Nepalese-speaking soldiers. In the end, it appears that a department store mannequin could have been just as effective, as the accused–as well as the witnesses–preferred to remain thick as a brick. Due to the time difference between Belize and the U.K., we were unable to contact the Ministry of Defence in London, but British High Commissioner Philip Priestly, speaking through his secretary, told News 5 that the report in the Daily Mirror is untrue; that no decision has been made to drop the charges and that the case is still being pursued by military prosecutors.