Court martial witnesses postpone testimony for exams

It was supposed to begin yesterday, then again today, but this morning the court martial of three British Gurkha soldiers met even further delays. The problem appears to be the as yet unresolved problem with several Belizean witnesses scheduled to begin testimony this week. Over the weekend, Eugene Zabaneh Jr. indicated he would not be coming to court on Monday as scheduled, and that he was not sure if he would be testifying at all. The court was told there was a similar response from Said Musa Jr. But apparently both young men have had a change of heart and this morning indicated by telephone that they are willing to testify, but not this week due to the fact that they are taking exams. Another witness, Ryan Edwards, did not testify during the first trial, but is being asked to appear this time. He has indicated he is willing to fly in from Houston next week to appear, but only on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. The back and forth and setting of conditions for appearance resulted today in considerable discussion in the absence of the jury about the status of the trial. Defence Barrister Neil Fitzgibbon rose to say that when he was informed Sunday night that two key witnesses may not be willing to testify, he was prepared to present an “abuse of process” motion seeking to draw a line in the sand and put a halt to further adjournments and delays. He said that the court was being “held to ransom by two members of Belize’s most influential families.” He noted that his client had never been in trouble with the law before and has been waiting since May for this trial. He pointed out the considerable time and expense that has already been expended on the trial and that if this case was being held in a regular circuit court such delays on the part of witnesses would not be tolerated. He demanded to know what the prosecution intended to do if the three witnesses did not appear next Monday, the date they were now requesting. The prosecutor, Nigel Jones, indicated that he too was frustrated and said that in the crown’s view, “the credibility of these witnesses would be so severely compromised if they failed to appear Monday that their evidence would be questionable at best.” He said if in fact one or all three of the young men did not appear, the prosecution would call no further witnesses. In other words, if the friends and cousin of the deceased David Zabaneh Jr. who were with him on May tenth, the night of the brawl at Raul’s Rose Garden, do not come forward to testify, the case will completely unravel. If that happens, then the Gurkhas presently charged with violent disorder that night will be released and the court martial board dissolved. Judge Advocate Paul Camp said, “With no witnesses, there is no case.” The Judge Advocate said the present situation could have been avoided if a “proper” memorandum of understanding had been put in place between the British Army and the Belize Government before the case started. He said that under the present memorandum, the army has jurisdiction over the military members and witnesses, but none over civilian witnesses, and therefore cannot compel them to testify. Today in court the new jury was sworn in and the prosecution opened its case, despite the absence of witnesses. Two Raul’s Rose Garden security guards, Mr. Burton and Mr. Betancourt, have indicated their willingness to testify and will take the stand tomorrow. This is the second attempt at holding a court martial. The first jury had to be disbanded seven days into the trial because it was discovered one of them had contact with a witness. David Zabaneh Jr. died the day after the brawl from serious injuries sustained during the beating.