Retrial of accused killer doubtful as file is missing

In 2005, his murder trial ended in a deadlock and the D.P.P. vowed to re-file the charges … but tonight it looks like Mark Vega will not face a return bout in court; his paperwork, it seems, has gone missing. According to court reports, Vega was supposed to be arraigned today for the 2002 murder of Susanna Petkau, when it was discovered that the Registrar’s copy of his case file could not be found. Justice Troadio Gonzalez was supposed to take the matter up with Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh this afternoon, but up to news time tonight we did not have the details of that meeting. With nothing to be done about the matter, Vega was remanded to prison until his next court date on January twenty-second. But just because his file is missing doesn’t mean that Vega is getting away scot free. In April 2004, Justice Adolph Lucas found him guilty of two counts of kidnapping, rape, and an unnatural crime. He was sentenced to ten years for each kidnapping and thirteen years each for the sexual assaults. Vega’s accomplice, Luis Urbina, was also convicted of those same charges, and in addition to a sentence of thirteen years behind bars, another seven years were added for escaping from police custody in 2004. Urbina was jointly charged with Vega for the murder, but was found not guilty in the 2005 trial. In June 2002, Vega, Urbina and Omar Vellos went on a crime spree in the northern districts. The men are said to have held up Petkau and her husband Enrique near Shipyard, stole their van, and shot them. Susanna would later succumb to her injuries. From there, the gang is believed to have travelled to the Corozal District where they kidnapped Jacob Rancheran and a female friend and took possession of his Chevy Blazer. In a new vehicle the men then returned to Orange Walk, robbed a restaurant, and gang raped the kidnapped woman. For his part in the crimes, Vellos was sentenced to thirteen years in prison.