Gurkhas acquitted as witness is no-show
When the court martial of three British Army Gurkha soldiers resumed this morning in Belmopan, the prosecution announced that there were some “startling developments”. That turned out to be a massive understatement, as by noon, after two and a half years of investigation and two million pounds of expenditure, the crown abruptly decided to abandon its case. That left the judge advocate with only one choice: to direct a verdict of acquittal on all charges. News Director Stewart Krohn was in the courtroom this morning…and is still shocked at the abrupt turn of events.
Janelle Chanona
“Stewart, listening to the radio and hearing the news out of Belmopan that this case was over, how did that happen?”
Stewart Krohn, News Director
“That’s what we all wanted to know. Before the court opened you could see just by the way to prosecutor and the defence attorneys were shuffling around and powwowing with each other, you could see that something big was going to happen. I did not, however, expect that today would be the last day of the trial. As you recall, exactly one month ago when the case opened, Karl Heusner and myself sat here with you and speculated about what is gonna happen; this was not one of the scenarios we had in mind.”
Janelle Chanona
“So what did happen? Why is this case no more?”
Stewart Krohn
“Essentially, the prosecutor got up to speak and he said that his star witness in the case, Eugene Zabaneh Jr., was a no-show, that he had failed to appear, and that without young Zabaneh he felt that he did not have enough evidence to proceed and therefore he rested his case. When he rested his case, saying I have no evidence to offer, the Judge Advocate, Paul Camp, really had no choice, he had to acquit the three men.”
Janelle Chanona
“And you mean to tell me that Eugene Zabaneh Jr. didn’t know that this whole case essentially hinged on his testimony why he didn’t show up? What kind of excuse was there?”
Stewart Krohn
“Well, according to the prosecutor–and again, the prosecutor is the one who is supposed to the cheerleader for convicting these three defenders–he said that both he and the Judge Advocate had written very stern letters to three witnesses: Eugene Jr., Said Musa Jr., and Ryan Edwards. And in his letter he told, according to him, he told Eugene Zabaneh Jr. that his entire case depended on his testimony and that if he didn’t testify this case was going to be finished, that the three men charged would be acquitted. So according to both he and the judge, Eugene Zabaneh Jr. was well aware that the whole case depended on him. And he also said that the court officer, Jim Bond, had received verbal assurances from all three boys that they would indeed testify this week and they had scheduled them. Eugene Zabaneh was supposed to testify this morning, I think Said Jr. on Tuesday, and Ryan Edwards on Wednesday.”
Janelle Chanona
“And did they indicate as to why he decided he wasn’t going to gonna come to court? Where is he?”
Stewart Krohn
“Again, according to the prosecutor, when the court officer went to Eugene Jr.’s house this morning around eight o’clock just to double check and kind of make sure that he was gonna appear, he was informed by someone at the house that Eugene Jr. had gone to the States, not around.”
Janelle Chanona
“That’s it, no further…
Stewart Krohn
“No further explanation.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now if I remember, the last you were in here you were saying that both the Judge Advocate Paul Camp and the prosecutor Lt. Col. Nigel Jones, they were adamant that these boys could not be toying with the system, they had to show up. What kind of attitude did the judge and the prosecutor take to what happened today?”
Stewart Krohn
“I’m gonna refer to notes because I to quote these fellows accurately. According to the prosecutor, he stated that “Eugene Jr. has lied and misled the court,” and because of that he said, “I have a serious concern about his credibility.” So basically the prosecutor was saying that he had really lost faith in his own star witness. The Judge Advocate went even further. According to the Judge Advocate, again I quote what he said, “You must wonder what sort of person this young man must be. He has brought shame upon himself. He seems to think that he is above the law. I feel very sad for the family of the victim.” And David Zabaneh Jr.’s mother and stepfather were in the courtroom today and you could see this was not a good day for them. But the judge was unsparing in his criticism of Eugene.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now Stewart tell me, is there any indication from when we started covering this case, to now, this is Eugene’s cousin that we’re talking about here that died as a result of what happened that night. He was a witness to everything, what’s your speculation or best guess as to why he wouldn’t want to come forward to help his own family?”
Stewart Krohn
“Janelle, it seems to defy logic, and I think that’s the reason why both the prosecutor and the judge were so angry. Because it’s a military court martial, under British jurisdiction, they could not compel witnesses to appear, at least not Belizean witnesses. But as you said, if you want to know what I speculate, what my guess is, as someone who’s observed the trial I can only think that Eugene Jr. was in a very difficult situation. The testimony he had already given at the first incarnation of the trial was seriously questioned by the defence on cross-examination. It was apparent that Eugene Jr.’s original testimony was lacking in veracity, let me put it that way. The problem he now had, to make this testimony for the second time because as you may recall the first trial was contaminated and thrown out, if he had repeated the same testimony that he gave in the first trial, he knew the defence was gonna beat up on him again, probably worse than they beat up on him in the first testimony. His problem was then, if he said alright, let me change my testimony and bring it something closer to what appears to be the truth, then he has been caught in a lie by the same judge that he testified in front of. So all credibility is shot there. Whether this was a good reason to run away from his duty as a citizen, let alone from his duty as a family member, of that we can all speculate. But this was really a no-win situation for the prosecution.”
Janelle Chanona
“And today, what about the other witnesses, did the judge or the prosecutor say if they had been willing to testify, or if Eugene was the only one who didn’t want to come forward?”
Stewart Krohn
“Let me make it very clear Janelle, the prosecutor and the judge went out of their way to state that both Said Musa Jr. and Ryan Edwards were willing to testify. They were scheduled to testify, they would have testified. He singled out Said Jr. for praise; he singled out the Government of Belize for their cooperation, the Chief Justice, the Police Commissioner. He spent five minutes saying how happy he was with everyone expect Eugene Zabaneh Jr.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now the prosecution might have singled out Eugene Zabaneh as the star witness of the case, but the highlight I think for a lot of us on the outside were that these three Gurkhas were going to be–at least somebody getting something for this boy dying. What happens now, this boy’s life just goes just like that, like it never even happened?”
Stewart Krohn
“Yeah, essentially. The Judge Advocate… I made a mistake saying it was only Eugene Zabaneh Jr. that he castigated because he did in a prepared speech–again let me quote what he said to the three defendants. While allowing that they were acquitted and they were free, here’s what he said: “Justice has a long reach and that the guilty should not rest easy in their beds.” Now what he obviously means by this, not necessarily that these three men actually dealt the death blows to David Jr. because it was already previously established that while they may have punched him or kicked him, that the death blows were delivered later by other people essentially when David was already unconscious on the ground and they beat him mercilessly. But while these three may not have been the killers, the judge went so far as to say that he believes there was a cover-up on the part of the Gurkhas, that here was a conspiracy of silence and that there were people in the Gurkha regiment who knew who killed David Zabaneh Jr. and it’s those people who “should not rest easy in their beds.” And he did not rule out that at some point these men will be prosecuted and given the maximum penalty. But given what has happened so far, I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.”
Janelle Chanona
“So David might not get his day of justice in court?”
Stewart Krohn
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Janelle Chanona
“You have anything else you’d like to mention?”
Stewart Krohn
“There were some other very strange twists to this that I won’t get into involving various other improprieties on the part of certain British participants in the trial that will be dealt with when the court martial actually reconvenes in Colchester on January fifth, and two very senior Brigadiers in the British Army are going to be perhaps charged with contempt of court over communications they had that they weren’t supposed to have, so while it may be over for us it’s certainly not over for the British army.”
Janelle Chanona
“Thank you very much Stewart.”
