A screenshot from the video.
“The good news is that neighbors pulled together and were able to apprehend somebody,” said Steve Reyer, president of the Nosara Security Association. The bad news is, in spite of evidence such as video recordings and multiple witnesses, the man apprehended was released by a judge in Nicoya less than 24 hours later. “The legal system failed,” summed up Reyer.
Reyer related that around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 19, a neighbor heard a noise and went with another neighbor to check on the house in section A of Pelada. Three men wearing mask were in the house but two escaped. One, however, was apprehended, and he had a hacksaw, a crowbar and a hammer with him. The Security Association was doing foot patrols nearby in section C and were called to the scene, along with private security companies, the Public Force, the Tourist Police and OIJ (the investigative organism).
According to Humberto Aguirre Garcia, in charge of the Tourist Police group in Guiones, when the police arrived on the scene at the rental house in Playa Pelada, neighbors who had surprised the would-be thieves, had the suspect, whose last names are Garita Ramos, 33 years old, tied up. “When we arrived he had two backpacks filled with belongings of the guests,” Aguirre stated.
The tourist police secured the scene, OIJ arrived and took the suspect to Nicoya. In addition to witnesses and video cameras captured images of the break-in. The case was presented to a judge in Nicoya, but the judge “let him go because he ‘did not present any danger,’” Reyer said.
“This is why there’s crime running rampant in this country. They’re more interested in criminal’s rights than in protecting the victims,” Reyer stated. He indicated that witnesses are planning to go to Nicoya to testify against the suspect because there is still a case against him and they are also contacting national media to try to draw attention to the need for reforms in the legal system.
The renters were a foreign family with kids who were out of the house during the break-in.
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