High school boy beaten to death by British Soldiers

A fourteen-year-old boy is dead after being beaten in what appears to be a brawl on Thursday night. The incident occurred at Raul’s Rose Garden, a popular bar and brothel located near mile eight on the Northern Highway. Details are sketchy, but the deceased, David Zabaneh Jr. is a first form student at St. John’s College. He arrived at the establishment with three fellow underage SJC students and allegedly became involved in an altercation with a group of Gurkha soldiers from BATSUB, the British Army Training Unit, headquartered at nearby Price Barracks. Zabaneh was beaten so badly that he lapsed into a coma, and on Saturday was flown to Tampa, Florida, where he died at Tampa General Hospital. A joint investigation is now being carried out by the Belize Police Department and British military. A number of Army suspects are being held in military custody at Price Barracks and the first members of a British investigation team have already arrived from the U.K. Heading the investigation for the police is Inspector Simeon Alvarez. The incident has, not surprisingly, kept the local rumour mill going nonstop. David Zabaneh Jr. was the son of businessman David Zabaneh and his companions that night hail from some of the nation’s most prominent families. It is not clear whether the boys had been drinking that night or if they had even patronised the bar at Raul’s.