She shot her policeman husband in the back twice, killing him, and was charged with murder. But this morning Josephat (Josefa) Choc pled guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. That saved the court’s time and saved choc a lengthy jail sentence. In her plea for mitigation, Choc told Justice Herbert Lord that she was a victim of domestic abuse. Justice Lord sentenced her to 10 years in jail for killing her common-law husband Police Constable Benedicto Salam in April of 2005. It occurred at the couple’s home in the Las Flores area of Belmopan and PC Salam was shot with his own gun.
Our team was at the courthouse this morning.
Keith Swift Reporting,
A handcuffed Josefa Choc left the courthouse this afternoon to begin serving her 10 year sentence for killing her husband – police officer Benedicto Salam three years ago in Las Flores. Benedicto’s family is outraged at the plea deal.
Protascia Chen, Aunt of Deceased
“I so angry because you know why, my nephew is dead. He can’t come back. That lady right there, she is leaving. She’s healthy, she has food at prison. And the next is that if they give her ten years, that is no
kind of justice and then it should be murder and they brought it down to manslaughter. Come on Keith that is not right to me. A man is dead, two shots from the back. What do you call that? I ask the public for that, what do you call that. That is not manslaughter, that is murder.”
Josefa Sho, Mother of Deceased
“It is murder because I can’t see my son right now. He is already gone and she did it.”
She did do it but the court took into consideration that Josefa was a domestic abuse victim. In fact former Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos-Garcia asked the judge to be lenient on Josefa.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Made Mitigation Plea
“I am pleased that the sentence was not as heavy as it could have been and I really want to say that it is very important for us as a society to look at cases of serious domestic abuse and gender violence.”
Keith Swift,
But Mrs. Garcia you would agree that abuse isn’t an excuse to kill someone. We don’t want to send that message.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia,
“Well in this case I would say that is neither here nor there because we had a set of circumstances that were indeed very tragic and when a woman displays signs of what we call the ‘battered woman syndrome,’ I think it is absolutely necessary to take that into account.”
Keith Swift,
She is saying that the relationship was abusive and that’s why she had to kill him.
Protascia Chen,
“Keith, how would you tell that a man comes home at 5 in the morning, he is not expecting anything. Yes maybe he is drinking with his friends but come on, he came home from work and he wasn’t expecting this.”
Keith Swift,
So the family is not satisfied?
Protascia Chen,
“Not, completely not. This is not finished.”
Justice Herbert Lord set the sentence to when she was arraigned. So in effect, Josepha Choc has already spent three of her ten years in jail. She has 7 years left and with good behaviour she could be out in 5 years. Along with Dolores Balderamos, CEO at the Kolbe Foundation Marlon Skeen also made a mitigation plea on Choc’s behalf.
And in the middle of all this is the couple’s now 6 year old daughter who witnessed the murder and is now in the custody of Choc’s family.
