Three years after a horrific New Year’s Eve shooting destroyed a Belmopan family, a disgraced former law enforcement officer convicted of the brutal massacre is set to receive his official sentence Wednesday.
Elmer Nah, once a decorated police corporal, will appear before the Belize High Court this afternoon for the final phase of one of the nation’s most high-profile homicide cases. He was found guilty in late May of three counts of murder and one additional count of attempted murder for the bloodshed that unfolded at the Ramnarace family residence on December 31, 2022.
The gunfire left brothers Jon and David Ramnarace dead at the scene. Jon’s wife, Vivian Belisle Ramnarace, pulled through the initial assault but died from her complications two weeks after the attack. The fourth person targeted in the attack, Yemi Alberto, escaped with his life and survived the shooting.
Presiding Justice Nigel Pilgrim is scheduled to issue the official ruling on punishment at 1:00 p.m., closing the book on a case that has gripped public attention across Belize for years. A key turning point in the trial came from a dying declaration recorded by Vivian Belisle Ramnarace before her passing. In his May verdict, Justice Pilgrim emphasized that her account was both credible and consistent, adding that surveillance video evidence aligned perfectly with her description of the attack and the attacker.
The court also entirely rejected Nah’s claims about his location during the shooting, finding that the former officer had intentionally provided false information to both investigators and the judicial panel. This finding of deliberate perjury was cited as a major factor supporting the guilty convictions handed down last month. Today’s sentencing will bring long-awaited closure to a case that has shocked the small Central American nation since the deadly 2022 attack.