Wednesday 24 September 2014

Killers Of Venezuelan Beauty Queen Jailed

A court in Venezuela has sentenced three men to lengthy jail sentences
for the killing of Venezuelan beauty queen Monica Spear in January.

The three had pleaded guilty.

Ms Spear, 29, and her British partner, Thomas Berry, were shot dead in
January in front of their five-year-old daughter during a roadside
robbery.

UN figures suggest that Venezuela has the second-highest peacetime
murder rate in the world, but the brutality of the crime shocked the
country.

Prosecutors said the three men were part of a larger gang which
targeted motorists along a highway leading from Valencia to Puerto
Cabello.

The court said seven other people were still on trial for the crime
but had denied the charges.

The sentences for the three men range between 24 and 26 years in jail.

The family, who lived in the US, was on a visit to Ms Spear's home
country when they were targeted.

They were travelling at night from the city of Merida to the capital,
Caracas, when their car hit a sharp object, puncturing two tyres.
While they waited for breakdown assistance, they were ambushed by the
armed gang.

When the couple and their daughter hid inside the car, they were shot
at by the robbers.

Ms Spear and Mr Berry died instantly. Their daughter, Maya, was shot in the leg.

The murder of the popular beauty queen, who was crowned Miss Venezuela
in 2004, prompted demonstrations against the country's high crime
rate.

President Nicolas Maduro promised to respond with "an iron fist" and
said he would make tackling crime one of the government's top
priorities.
Last week, he announced his government would invest $47m (£29m)to
further expand a plan to disarm civilians.

But opposition activists say impunity and corruption remain rampant
and accuse his government of doing too little to tackle insecurity.

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