Chayben Abou-Nehra
Chayben Abou-Nehra (1974 – 21 December 2008), also referred to as Ben Bou-Nahra, was a Belizean businessman. He had a variety of business activities, including as a 10% shareholder in Miles Tropical Energy, which had various petroleum concessions off the coast near Dangriga.[1] He was a controversial figure both in life and in death. Charged with manslaughter after killing a man in September 2005, he absented himself from Belize at a time when the charges were upgraded to murder, returned when the charges were downgraded to manslaughter, and then walked free in 2007 when witnesses against him refused to testify. Late the following year he was found dead in his hotel room of a gunshot wound, in what may have been a suicide.[2]
Death of Shawn Copious
Shooting and charges
On 17 September 2005 at roughly 3:30 AM, Abou-Nehra returned to his home in King's Park,
Police held Abou-Nehra for 48 hours, but at the time regarded the killing as a
Walks free due to police refusal to testify
After Anderson stepped down, the new DPP
In October 2007, two of the witnesses Darius Ramos and Anthony Poloni, both constables, were charged with perjury and contradicting previous evidence; they pleaded not guilty. The DPP declined to charge the third witness, former Inspector Clement Cacho, who by then had been demoted to sergeant.[12] An internal police tribunal later found that Ramos, Polonio, and Cacho had committed an "Act to the Prejudice of Good Order and Discipline against the Department".[13] Cacho was reduced in rank and given half-pay, but later filed suit in the Supreme Court against the police department and in 2010 was awarded reinstatement and back pay.[14]
Death
In 2008, Abou-Nehra was on holiday up country in Cayo District with his fiancée, 22-year-old Evita Bedran, the granddaughter of late hotel magnate Escander Bedran.[2] They went to a disco in Benque Viejo del Carmen a few miles away, where he got into an altercation.[2][15] His shirt stained with blood, he then returned with Bedran to San Ignacio town and went to their hotel, the San Ignacio Resort Hotel owned by Bedran's family, in order to get a new set of clothes.[2][16] After changing, he got into another altercation, this time with a security guard at the hotel. Another security guard attempted to calm the two, and got himself pistol-whipped by Abou-Nehra for his trouble, receiving a laceration to the head requiring four stitches. The two security guards filed a police report against Abou-Nehra, while Abou-Nehra himself returned to his room. By the time police arrived at the hotel, Abou-Nehra was laid out on the floor of his hotel room with a gunshot wound.[2]
Abou-Nehra was taken first to San Ignacio's Loma Luz Hospital, and then Belize City's Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he was declared dead at 7 AM the following morning. His family expressed suspicion that he would have committed suicide, and requested to have their own forensic pathologist observe the autopsy at KNMH. Pathologist Mario Estradaban declined comment.[2] He was survived by a daughter Madison, as well as his mother Maria and sister Rachelle.[1]
References
- ^ a b Ramos, Adele (2011-02-18). "Front men, or partners in petroleum?". Amandala. Retrieved 2012-05-12.
- ^ a b c d e f Parks, Rowland A. (2008-12-23). "Abou-Nehra shot dead – post-mortem controversy". Amandala. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ a b "Suspected burglar shot dead by King's Park resident". News 5 Belize. 2005-09-19. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ a b "Intruder Killed by Businessman; Was it Justified?". 7 News Belize. 2005-09-19. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "Ben Abou-Nahra Charged for Killing Shawn Copious". 7 News Belize. 2006-07-24. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "DPP Kirk Anderson Wanted To Charge Ben Bou-Nehra For Murder". 7 News Belize. 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ a b c Nembhard, Anita (2007-05-15). "Chayben Abou-Nehra indicted for manslaughter in death of Shawn Copius". Amandala. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "Abou-Nehra Murder Charge Dropped to Manslaughter". 2007-05-08. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "DPP Withdraws Manslaughter Charge Against Abou-Nehra". 7 News Belize. 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "DPP Defends Handling of Abou-Nehra Case". 7 News Belize. 2007-07-31. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
- ^ Nembhard, Anita (2007-10-26). "'Worthless and wicked!'". Amandala. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ Nembhard, Anita (2007-10-30). "Constables Darius Ramos, 46, and Anthony Polonio, 45, charged in Chay Abou-Nehra acquittal". Amandala. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "Police panel finds three forgetful cops guilty". San Pedro Daily. 2008-01-24. Archived from the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "Clement Cacho Is Back". 7 News Belize. 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "Ben Bou-Nahra dead: Murder or Suicide?". News 5 Belize. 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
- ^ "Ben Bou-Nahra Killed with a Bullet to the Head. Suicide or Homicide?". 7 News Belize. 2008-12-23. Retrieved 2012-05-03.