On May 6th it made major headlines when police conducted an all day search at businessman Jose Shoman’s home on the Northern Highway. It was a big development because Shoman had been perceived as one of the untouchables under the Musa administration and the day long police siege on his home, seemed to signal a change in business as usual. But, it was business as usual for the police today in court – and by that we mean bad business, specifically prosecutorial incompetence and mishandling of evidence.
39 year old Shoman and his wife 27-year-old Malachi had been charged with keeping greater number of ammunition than specified in license, and one count each of kept unlicensed firearm, specifically a 12 gauge pump action shotgun, without a gun license. But today in court, only the 12 gauge shotgun was tendered as evidence. Where were the 319 rounds of ammunition? Well they were brought to court and counted, only 287 were there; 33 rounds had disappeared? Where were they? The police prosecutor Arzu had no explanation. He was visibly surprised and exasperated. He simply told the court that he had left all of them intact when he sealed the evidence in early may.
And it was on from that embarrassment to another fiasco when it came time to prove possession of the shotgun. Shoman’s attorney Edwin Flowers raised a significant question about the serial number of the firearm, and posed the possibility that police had gotten it wrong. Flowers pointed to another set of numbers on the firearm, and Arzu conceded that those could be the serial number as he had seen the clerk make a mistake before.
And with all that, it was clear that the prosecution did not have a case against the Shomans and their attorney, Edwin Flowers made a submission asking the court to dismiss the charges against his clients. The Shomans were acquitted and left the court shortly before midday. Shoman exited the courtroom and told our court reporter that they were innocent from the time the charges came about. When asked if they will be taking any legal action against the Belize Police Department, Flowers said no, this is the end of the matter.
After the great court humiliation, Inspector Arzu who was still upset said refrain from comment about the matter but did say, “his integrity as a police officer is compromised when things like these happen.”
