Tonight the families of David, Jon and Vivian Ramnarace feel they are one small step closer in their journey to justice after the special prosecutor hired to convict Elmer Nah appeared in court for the first time.
Today the Belmopan High Court was scheduled for the full disclosure in the tuple murder trial.
It's just a preliminary matter - but it was our first time to see the special prosecutor.
Jomarie Lanza reports:
The Ramnarace and Belisle families gathered once more outside of the Belmopan Magistrates court this morning, as accused triple murderer Elmer Nah was whisked in and out of the courtroom by a rough and ready cordon of GI3 officers.
9 Months later, after the gruesome murder of the Ramnarce brothers, and his wife who succumbed to her injuries 15 days later, the family may be a step closer towards justice now that the special prosecutor for the case is in country and a preliminary inquiry is on the horizon. The family's attorney Arthur Saldivar shared more with us today.
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney
"Well today Mr Nah was brought again to continue the process towards having his matter being sent up to the Supreme Court. It's a routine where you have matters like this it's not a quick process but the complication of the documents takes time. We knew that there a situation where the prosecutor who was going to have remit of the matter was not in country prior to now so now Mr Williams has made his first appearance in the courts in Belize. The family is thankful for that which is a great indicator that the case on its merit should pass muster to get to the Supreme Court certainly the family believes and I believe there's a strong case and the presence of the special prosecutor is also an indicator of that fact."
"It's obvious that this matter is being given some level of priority because there are persons who have similar charges. And when I say as similar, none are as heinous as what he had done in terms of the multiplicity of deceased persons that had been caused as a result of these allegations brought against him but certainly there are persons on remand for murder who have not come as frequently to the court as Nah has come. So it shows that there is some level of urgency being attached to the quest for Justice in this matter which I believe the family appreciates very much and now that the special prosecutor is here and there is a firm date set for the PI which is November the 8th that gives greater indication that maybe by the next session of the Supreme Court Mr Nah May be required to appear to have that process in the high court be started."
Terrence Williams, the special prosecutor from Jamaica who has been retained just for this case is confident that they are prepared to move forward with the proceedings come November 8th
Terrence Williams, Special prosecutor
"I do understand the case quite well. I thank Ms Elrington for her assistance and we are ready to go. Today the matter was set for the 8th of November there was an administrative reason why we couldn't start today which some papers were not being with the magistrate but all will be put ready and we are ready for November 8th just that we had to find a suitable date other than today and that was the earliest date suitable for all parties."
And for although the case seems to be progressing the family says that they still continue to remain cautiously optimistic. Vivian's first cousin, Deon Pascasio told us why.
Deon Pascascio, First Cousin
"Well we are feeling much more, a little bit more confident in the process. But we, you know that because of the fact that we are the family members, we are the ones who have suffered the loss, we are still cautiously optimistic, I've been using that word, those words for quite some time. And the reason why I say that is because yes while things seem to be making some progress what we've been noticing is that there has been some serious protection for Mr Nah. There's been an unprecedented amount of protection. I mean you guys were out here and you saw guys out here with some heavy machinery, with guns in their hands and that type of thing protecting him from what? When he was coming out the court for the very first time everybody had to be cleared away I mean what is all this about you know? So this concerns us because we want to know who they are afraid of or why the preferential treatment? Because this begs a lot of questions from our standpoint because we haven't seen them operate like this before even coming right here. So you know we continue to be cautiously optimistic in the system and the way things are going because we, I will say we are not fully comfortable with everything and I guess maybe will never be until the court or the case is finished and depending on what the verdict is at that point because we know when it comes to legal matters anything can happen."
Anything can happen, and in this case where a former cop is accused of a triple execution and the prosecution is led by a Jamaican special prosecutor - many unprecedented things have already happened - time will tell if it's enough to garner a conviction.
Attorney Lynden Jones is representing Nah.
We'll keep following the case closely.
