She was shot from very close range. That’s the official result of yesterday’s post mortem on the body of thirty five year old Punta Gorda resident Soila Ramclam Xiu. She was killed on Saturday when her boyfriend forty two year old Venezuelan businessman Jorge Pinzon claims he accidentally shot his girlfriend. Pinzon said he was clearing his nine millimeter pistol when it accidentally went off, and fatally injured Ramclam who was sitting on a chair in front of him. Jorge Pinzon was taken into custody and before the post mortem was conducted, P.G police, acting on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions, went ahead and charged the businessman with manslaughter. But they stressed that if the post mortem indicated otherwise then the charge can be upgraded. And so it was today when Jorge Pinzon was charged for murder. This afternoon at the Belize City’s morgue, Chief Pathologist Doctor Mario Estradabran told us what the examination revealed.
Doctor Mario Estradabran,
“She had a gunshot wound on the center of the chest, a 9 milimeter circumference with an abrasion ring typically characteristic of the nozzle of
the gun being in contact with the skin of the deceased.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Based on your examination can you say whether or not this death was an accident?
Doctor Mario Estradabran,
“In my forensic opinion it doesn’t look like an accident, it looks like a direct contact of the gun to the victim. Normally when you see a gunshot or a shot wound accident or incident, it is not directly, the weapon making contact with the victim’s body.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
_So based on your post mortem results, what advice will you give the police?
Doctor Mario Estradabran,
“Well my advice to the police will be to investigate this case as a murder. The nozzle of the gun makes direct contact with the victim’s body so it doesn’t have the real characteristics of an accidental injury.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
She died instantly?
Doctor Mario Estradabran,
“Instantly. The bullet passed through the number 4 and number 5 ribs producing multiple fractures and then it went down and passed through the liver and exited through the posterior area of the body, through the number 10 and 11 arteries.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
So she died instantly, it is not like she died on the way to the hospital?
Doctor Mario Estradabran,
“She died a few minutes after.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Were there any other visible signs of injuries on the body or was it just the gunshot wound to the chest?
Doctor Mario Estradabran,
“Just three injuries; one contact wound entering the chest and two exit wounds due to the fragmentation of the projectile coming out.”
Today Pinzon was arraigned for murder and is scheduled to reappear on August seventh.
