This afternoon forty five year old former police constable Jose Maria Zetina was found guilty of the brutal slaying of his common law wife Rosa Isabel Mejia. Zetina stabbed Mejia seven times to the head, jaw and chest. There was also a slash across the face. Zetina also cut off her left arm and it is also reported that her body was moved from one room to the next. The murder weapon, a knife, was still embedded in her chest. The bloody killing took place in front of Mejia’s one year old son and heard by the victims’ two brothers. She was eighteen years old and pregnant at the time.
Just after three this evening and after deliberating for only three hours, a jury of six men and six women delivered their verdict. It was a unanimous decision by all twelve jurors. In the courtroom Zetina did not show any signs of remorse or surprise when his verdict was announced but looked calm as the
guilty verdict was read. In defense, Zetina claims that he had no idea who it was that killed his wife and that it must have been an intruder because when he got up on the morning of November twenty ninth, he found the door open.
One person who helped to seal a conviction for the prosecution is the victim’s brother Juan Antonio Mejia. Mejia who was fifteen years old at the time, heard the argument that ended his sister’s life. This evening he spoke with 7NEWS following the Supreme Court ruling.
Juan Antonio Mejia, Brother of Murder Victim
“Well we are trying to live with it and we are happy because we get the results we were waiting for and we thank the Lord for what he did, we got justice and well we can’t do nothing else but it but we hope that he will pay for it. We feel good, we feel like a weight just came off our backs because we were really waiting too long for it to come up.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
And this was a brutal murder.
Juan Antonio Mejia,
“Yes I was present at the time and I feel it right but we live through it.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Tell us what you saw, what you witnessed.
Juan Antonio Mejia,
“Well I didn’t really saw everything, I heard everything. I
was there at the home, I heard, like I said I heard everything. We went to a party and after the party this is what it turned into, my sister was murdered and like I tell you we live with it, we are glad with what justice has done.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Why does the family believe he did this to your sister?
Juan Antonio Mejia,
“The main purpose was jealousy because she was going to leave him.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
It was a stormy relationship.
Juan Antonio Mejia,
“Yeah, that’s what happened.”
Maria Luisa Montoya, Sister in law of murder victim
“I am very sorry what happened to her and thank God that God’s justice come and he turned to guilty and we wanted justice because she died very cruel and pregnant and plus she left a little baby boy, one year old. It is very terrible because first of all leaving a young baby without a mother and killing a girl 18 years old who was pregnant, I felt the murder was very terrible.”
Juan Antonio Mejia,
“I personally met him out here on the streets of Belize City in a bar and I hope that…”
Jacqueline Godwin,
You mean when he was supposed to be in prison?
Juan Antonio Mejia,
“Yes when he was remanded at Hattieville Prison he was out here in a bar. I met him personally so I hope that does not repeat because if the family meets him out there, I don’t know what’s going to happen so I just hope that that doesn’t happen again.”
Jose Maria Zetina will be sentenced on June thirtieth. Mejia’s family say while they believe that justice has been served, they want to see Jose Zetina sentence to death. It is not certain if the DPP’s office will be seeking the death penalty for the gruesome and bloody murder.
