Elmer Nah Says He is Being Wrongfully Accused Of Belmopan Double Murder
Elmer Nah
And, at around two p.m. this afternoon, thirty-nine-year-old Elmer Nah was escorted to Belmopan Magistrates Court in chains and under heavy security. Family members and friends of the murder victims gathered outside the courtroom to witness Nah’s arraignment. He was placed on remand and is tonight locked away inside the Belize Central Prison. News Five’s Paul Lopez was there. He filed the following report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Thirty-nine-year-old Elmer Nah was arraigned this morning inside the Belmopan Magistrates Court. Heavily armed police officers escorted a restrained Nah towards the entrance of the courtroom, while he shouted toward onlookers that he is being wrongfully accused. A group of spectators, including family members and friends of murder victims, David and Jon Ramnarace, gathered outside of the Belmopan Magistrates Court, many of them had been waiting for hours to get a firsthand look at the accused murderer. The family of the victims declined comment, but one Belmopan resident spoke with News Five about why he decided to show up to Nah’s arraignment.
Kirk Garnett
Kirk Garnett, Belmopan Resident
“I know ah a lot of people nuh wah show up because they are intimidated and a lot of them the worry bout deh face being seen on the news and so. Anybody know me know I am not a public person and so but I think this mih call fih mek I come out because I fall in a category of a lot of other citizens weh experience similar things by the police, dealing with them and this dah something we I mih the highlight for a while bout this individual because ah my personal and others in my community.”
Nah continued to plea his innocence before the magistrate. His shouts were heard by those outside the courtroom waiting for his exit. And, when Nah did emerge some ten minutes later, he appeared to be calm, as he was taken into the police van and transported to the Belize Central Prison where he remains on remand tonight.
Kirk Garnett
“As we speak right now you might can’t see it, but I still the shake. Dah something weh lef the Christmas was here, the New Year was here and there was nothing festive about it because ah this loss weh we as the community the experience and not fih seh that anybody bad deserve anything like that, but just it happening to the Ramnarace brother, bredda deh dah man weh bring deh watch tower and talk godly with yo, deh dah Jehovah Witnesses. That dah all I know bout deh guy yah. As a community we need fih get up and show the community and show the people that listen we elect mayors and area representatives and deh people have to truly represent we community yo understand, cases like this we suppose to hear like good, this dah we wewah do fih proactively make sure things like this nuh occur again. And, put things in place.”
According to Compol Williams, surveillance footage of the incident clearly reveals that the suspect carried out this brazen act with the intent to kill. ComPol Williams says, police detained Nah with a spotlight on his head, similar to what the shooter was wearing as seen in surveillance footage. A search was conducted inside his home.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The shooter has a wealth of experience in firearm. The way he maneuvered the firearm and maneuvered himself showed that he is well trained and like you rightly said, he had a specific intent to kill. Even after he had shot the victims outside he went in, came out back, and I don’t want to go to graphic, but what he did when he came outside showed his clear intent to kill. Obviously the time he spent inside the house also demonstrates that he had all intent to kill the females who were in there. But, thankfully they were able to secure themselves in a room and he was not able to enter the room and that is the reason why those two females remain alive today and we are grateful for that. The truth is the light was actually found still on his head when the police go there. I am not going to go into details in terms of all that was found but police still discovered some materials that could still be used as evidence.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
