Businessman’s Accused Murderer in 2012 Acquitted

Anthony Carballo Jr.

He was just eighteen when he was incarcerated for the murder of businessman Jerminie McNab at his store, Mobile Hardware, in Belize City. But today, Anthony Carballo Junior was adjudged not guilty due to lack of evidence after errors in interrogating the suspect were revealed. McNab was shot three times and died on the spot at the store, then located at the corner of Currasow Street and Cemetery Road, on May seventeenth, 2012. Carballo was charged after allegedly giving police both a witness and caution statement. Ruling on whether the statement was admissible, Supreme Court Justice Colin Williams noted multiple fatal errors, including how Carballo was moved from the cell block to an open area while in police custody. Suspects in police custody are not witnesses, he continued, and so both a witness and caution statement cannot be obtained from the same person; it must be one or the other. Without direct eyewitness evidence, the statements were the only piece of evidence against Carballo, who allegedly admitted to investigators that it was a robbery attempt gone bad. Speaking from the dock, Carballo also claimed that he had been tasered by police, then told he would be let go if he gave a statement. Justice Williams was thus convinced that the statement was not freely given and so inadmissible. With no further evidence, Senior Crown Counsel Sheiniza Smith closed her case and the judge found the charge could not be proven against Carballo, meaning he was free to go. Carballo Junior was represented in court by attorney, Oscar Selgado.