Nine months after being charged for the possession of six rounds of unlicensed ammunition, the Nasser family has been found not guilty’. The decision was delivered on Thursday, July 24th by Magistrate Sherigne Rodriguez, and was due to lack of evidence from the prosecution.
The Nasser family, Jaziba, Nazim and their two sons, Jamil and Hilal, were arrested on October 23, 2013 after San Pedro Police conducted a search in their home located on the second floor of a supermarket on Coconut Drive. The search, which led to the discovery of 75 cartons of cigarettes and six .22 caliber rounds of unlicensed ammunition, was conducted based on incriminating information received. The four Nassers were jointly charged and remanded to Belize Central Prison on October 24, 2013. Jaziba, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was offered bail of $8,000 and released within a week of being remanded due to her sensitive condition. Nazim, Jamil and Hilal were released on bail until November 8, 2013.
Representing the family in the two-day trial was attorney Dickie Bradley, who submitted evidence that the information presented in the initial charge sheet had been changed. The prosecution was led by Officer in Charge, Superintendent Luis Castellanos, who presented the testimony of two of the police officers that conducted the search on the Nassers’ home. The turning point of the trial was the confusion on whether the ammunition was found within the safe. The Nasser family had stated that the safe in which the ammunition was found, had recently been purchased before the search.
In the end, Magistrate Rodriguez delivered her verdict stating the law as it relates to knowledge, and the lack of evidence, in regards to the opening of the safe, as well as who was present when the ammunition was found.
