Post-mortem on Zabaneh shows two fatal blows

The results of a post-mortem conducted on the body of David Zabaneh Jr. have been released by police. According to their report, the autopsy done in Florida certifies the cause of death as blows to the centre of the head and back of the neck. These injuries were consistent with those caused by a blunt object and either one of them alone could have resulted in death. It is understood that the body will be returned to Belize on Friday for burial in Orange Walk over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the two weekly party newspapers out today wasted no time in spinning the incident for their own political purposes. The UDP’s Guardian managed to find high school yearbook photos of the three survivors of last week’s brawl, including that of the Prime Minister’s son, but could not locate a shot of the deceased, David Zabaneh Jr. The Guardian urged the closing of Raul’s Rose Garden for the crime of admitting the underage boys and went on to criticise the PUP government for allowing Central American prostitutes to work there. It is worth noting that the Guardian’s owner was minister responsible for immigration as well as police from 1993 to 1998, a time when prostitution and underage drinking at Raul’s flourished just as profitably as it does now.

As for the Belize Times, that newspaper has given new meaning to the term “rush to judgement.” In a front-page story, a conveniently unnamed “eyewitness” relates that the beating of the four boys was unprovoked, while the lead article reports that the Belizean teenagers somehow found themselves at the Rose Garden at one-thirty in the morning on a school night “out of curiosity.” It is strange that the editor, who is so fond of bragging about the wild days of his youth, could be in such denial when it comes to others.