Police know the people responsible for weekend murders, cannot charge because witnesses being intimidated

Published by BBN Staff at July 9, 2020

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Posted: Thursday, July 9, 2020. 6:32 pm CST.

By BBN Staff: There were two Belize City murders over the weekend, Raheem Faber, 19, and Raheem Myles, 23. and while police say they knew who was responsible and had persons detained in connection with those crimes, the department says it cannot charge them because witnesses do not want to come forward because they are being threatened.

Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says that police intelligence into the murders lead them decisively to the persons responsible, but without the eye witness support and a lack of forensic evidence, the department cannot lay any charges.

“Like I said…while yes we know who these persons are, the difficulty is the fact that they threaten people and witnesses are unwilling to cooperate. So because of that, we have not been able to bring charges against anybody,” Williams said.

He noted that the Crimes investigation Branch (CIB) is still interviewing people and trying to get them to testify, and hopes that when the suspects go to prison under the State of Emergency regulations, that the witnesses will feel comfortable enough to give their statements and help them lay the proper charges.

Williams said that witness threatening is an issue that police continue to grapple with, which was emphasized again this week with the acquittal of Steve Moss, 23, who was charged for the murder of 31-year-old Daniel Anderson but had the case dropped because key witnesses were threatened and chose not to testify.

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