Tonight, we're delving back into the cluster of speculation surrounding, now-alleged murderer corporal Elmer Nah and his possible involvement in the 2017 death of Fareed Ahmad.
It all started with new revelations from the Ahmad case file that were unearthed by attorney Dickie Bradley earlier this week. It's evidence that, although sparse, led the experienced attorney to conclude that a new investigation into Nah should be considered.
But tonight we're looking at a different file, the one compiled by then ACP Chester Williams's Professional Standards Branch. It investigated the conduct of SAT officers in the days before and after Ahmad's death. That file tonight, adding what is perhaps one more important detail, a stop and search of Fareed Ahmad by the police Special Assignment Team and Ahmad's resulting complaint. Cherisse Halsall has the story.
7News has now obtained the full internal report on the stop and search of Fareed Ahmad, his subsequent murder and threats made against that family.
12 hours before he was killed on the highway. Fareed Ahmad made a complaint to the Professional Standards Branch that he had been stopped at the Corner of Vernon street and George Price Highway and handcuffed by members of the Special Assignment Team who wanted to conduct a search on his vehicle.
The search took 45 minutes but didn't find anything apart from the licensed handgun he declared which was on the front seat. According to the report, the name of the officer who cuffed him is PC Itza.
The report, compiled by then commander of the Professional Standards Branch, Chester Williams concluded that the hand cuffing was unnecessary - he says, quote, "the handcuffing of Fareed on the December 21, 2017 was not authorized by law and could be viewed as the police acting overzealous"
But Fareed Ahmad would never live to know this finding because 12 hours after his report to the Professional Standard Branch he was shot in the head allegedly by constable Michelle Brown, a member of the S.A.T., who was in his vehicle by his consent.
Salient facts about Michelle Brown are that on the night of Ahmad's death, she held onto her police-issued 9mm pistol, against standard procedures and practice. The report notes that the officer in charge of the unit called her five times to ask her where the gun was, but she didn't answer. Officers also observed her crying while completing the evening's paperwork and she declined a ride home.
The report later details that her gun was later found within the wreckage of Ahmad's vehicle which crashed when he was fatally shot. Two expended shells from that gun were also found in the wreckage. The report details that a ballistic test shows that the fatal shot was fired from her weapon into Fareed Ahmad's cheek. The report says, quote, "the gunshot injuries Fareed received, were discharged from very close range and by someone inside the vehicle."
After his murder, Ahmad's family started receiving sinister and threatening text messages.
"Listen bro, stop getting jumpy. Fareed is already dead, and dead men tell no tales. Make sure you keep your... mouth shut and stop acting jumpy... The boss already handled you, so stick to your part and stop calling up anybody from the crew. Enough cash is there to be made if you play this out right. Just stick to his every move until the time is right and then, we will say hello to his Allah soon. And stop worrying about Chester because his investigation report doesn't play a role. We are untouchable. Don't forget who the boss is..."
Who would send such a message? Well, then ASP Chester Williams writes that: Quote, "Upon receiving the text messages, I entered the number in my phone and right away PC Elmer Nah's name appeared. I also entered the number in the Facebook search engine and a Facebook account I know belongs to P.C. Nah appeared. It would appear thus far that this number is registered to P.C. Elmer Nah. The content of the text messages is threatening to say the least and if these messages are authentic, they surely raise some serious concerns against PC Nah and other members of SAT." End quote.
So that would appear to be pretty compelling evidence, but then there's this: A letter from BTL based on a formal request for disclosure of phone records for the same phone number states, quote.
"There is no record between these cellular numbers for the period available as reflected in our records."
So, then no text messages are recorded in the system. Williams concludes: "It is therefore determined that the text messages were not authentic and could have been created using a fake text app."
Williams then concludes his report, finding, principally:
There is no nexus between Fareed's encounter with the Police on December 21, 2018 and his subsequent death; That Ms. Brown acted on her own volition and not that of any other member of the Belize Police Department; At the time of the incident only Ms. Brown and Fareed were in the vehicle; That it was the firearm assigned to Ms. Brown that discharged the two expended shells found inside the vehicle.
Williams also concluded that Constable Abner Itza neglected his duty by failure to take all necessary steps to ensure the recovery of the firearm from Michelle Brown, after he found out she had left without handing it in as required. We note that a PC Itza is also the one who had allegedly handcuffed Ahmad days before - which gave rise to his complaint against the S-A-T.
