Last night, you saw a video that shows former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Marco Vidal, exiting his vehicle and heading into a store in the Maya Mopan area. And his presence in that area has caused outrage and suspicion of a perverse motive - with many suggesting that he was snooping around the area to see if the store's camera, which is near the scene of the murder, caught any surveillance footage of the incident, and to get the store owners to delete it. We are told by sources close to Vidal that he was in fact trying to get footage to corroborate Elmer Nah's alibi that it was not, and could not have been him who killed the Ramnarace brothers on Belen Street extension.
While yesterday you heard ASP Fitzroy Yearwood say that if you - as a witness to a crime - are being intimidated or harassed, you should report it to the police, the Leader of the Opposition had a different tone during a press briefing today. Shyne Barrow demanded that the Police Minister order an investigation and condemn Vidal for what could be perceived as witness tampering. He added that Belizeans shouldn't have to live in fear of the very same authorities who are supposed to protect them.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"I am deeply disturbed, I am frightened, to think of the gall from this former deputy commissioner of police, Mr Marco Vidal, who is the accused triple murder's uncle, who I have mentioned in many of the interviews I've done regarding this matter. It is astonishing the pattern that we see, a disgusting pattern where the former deputy commission of police, Marco Vidal, is always involved in these alleged crimes relating to his nephew. If you go back to Fareed Ahmad, Mr Nah's alibi is, what? He was with his uncle."
"And now here we are again with Marco Vidal going into an establishment that may have recorded the execution of the Ramnarace brothers and Mrs Belisle Ramnarace and I don't hear anything from the Minister of Police, who was the most loud and boisterous when he was sitting on the other side and I am so deeply disappointed because these are the things where we can partner on, these are the things where we can come together and turn the corner, he said he was against corruption, they used to blast the GSU, they used to blast Marco Vidal, they used to say all of the things that I am saying now but they have the power to act. All I can do is have courage and be fearless and do what I'm supposed to as leader of the opposition and speak on these issues."
"Citizens of this country should not live in fear of law enforcement. It is enough that we have a crime problem but if the law enforcement is the now criminals, brazen, and that is one of the reasons I have been bringing up his name, that is one of the reasons the opposition called for witness protection, because we are afraid, I am afraid of the powers that these people think they had and I am concerned that the Minister of Police doesn't have the stomach to do what it is he said he would do because this is not for the faint heart."
"I call on the Minister of Police to detain the former deputy commissioner and find out why he was going into this establishment and investigate and if there can be any evidence of wrongdoing, of witness intimidation then arrest him."
While one social media post had suggested that the store owners were witnesses to the crime, the ComPol has since corrected this information, saying that the people who live at the house in the store's compound have nothing to do with the triple murder, and that the sole surviving victim of the incident has no affiliation with the them.
And today, the ComPol also explained that after the video was released on social media, the owner of the store began to fear for his life, and is now not cooperating with the police and refuses to make a complaint. At this time, the police are unable to say what was even discussed between him and Vidal.
The Commissioner adds that while the police have interviewed the two other two men in the video, they are unable to locate Vidal, but still plan to interview him when they do find him.
