Nah sentenced to life for triple murder

Before receiving life sentence, Nah shocks court by accusing another man of the murders in mitigation statement.  

BELIZE CITY, Fri. June 19, 2026

    This morning, Justice Nigel Pilgrim sentenced convicted former police Corporal Elmer Nah to three life sentences for the triple murder of Vivian, Jon and David Ramnarace, and 18 years for the attempted murder of David’s girlfriend, Yenie Alberto.

   All four sentences are to run concurrently with each other rather than consecutively due to the common set of circumstances linking the homicides, which took place at the same location within a limited timeframe, the judge explained. However, Nah will not be eligible for parole until after serving 50 years,

   Nah’s sentences were backdated to take effect from January 3, 2023, when he was first remanded to the Belize Central Prison on the murder charges.

   The proceedings took an unusual turn however, when Nah, just as the judge was about to deliver his sentence, asked the court’s permission to give a mitigation statement.

   He claimed that his attorney, Dr.  Lynden Jones had never informed him of the option of calling witnesses on his behalf for mitigation and about the benefits of mitigation.

   It is not the normal practice for a mitigation plea to be heard when a sentence is about to be handed down; especially so, considering that on the previous day when mitigation pleas were to be heard, the defense had told the court that they had nothing to say, and that they were not calling any character witnesses.

   While Justice Pilgrim told Nah that the time for submitting such statements had already passed, he allowed Nah to proceed due to his claim that his attorney had not made him aware that he could have such an opportunity.

   In his mitigation statement, Nah told the Ramnarace family that he was innocent, then he proceeded to identify another individual who he claimed was the gunman who carried out the triple murder. He went on to say that the real killer was someone that “we” arrested for drug trafficking and that the individual had been imprisoned after he, Nah, had been remanded.

   At this point, Nah told the court, “I want it on record. I give you that name so you could pursue it. I found out he is your killer. He lives right in Belmopan. If you are willing to pursue him, you will get the right killer.”

   Nah concluded his statement by saying, “As a father, I sympathize with you. I’m here to pursue the truth. We had a conviction in prison with him. He threatened to kill my family …”

   After almost four years of hearings and legal proceedings in search of closure and the comfort of knowing that the cold-blooded killer of their family members would be safely out of circulation in the public space, this was the last thing the grieving family members expected to hear, however it was received, and they were understandably uncomfortable speaking to the media in the immediate aftermath.

   Vivian’s mother and other family members outside the courtroom subsequently expressed disappointment in Nah’s bombshell statement in court.

   They told us that what Nah had to say was of no comfort to them, as he waited until the time of his sentencing to attempt to present another defense, casting blame on someone else, when he had the entire trial to raise such a defense.

   On Friday, May 29, 2026, Justice Nigel Pilgrim had found Nah guilty of three counts of murder (of Jon, David and Vivian Ramnarace) and one count of attempted murder (of David’s common-law wife, Yenie Alberto) .

   The trial against Nah started in a voir dire back in April of 2026, when Justice Pilgrim had ruled the hospital bed statement of Vivian Belisle Ramnarace to be admissible in the trial.

   In that statement, Vivian, who died from her injuries two weeks later, said she saw her killer when he ran into the house and shot her in the face.

   She told police that he wore an object over his head.

   Police found and detained Elmer Nah later that same night and he was wearing a headlight, similar to the object Vivian said her shooter had been wearing

   Vivian Belisle Ramnarace and her husband Jon Ramnarace left behind one daughter, then aged 5, now 8.

   Vashti Belisle, who is Vivian’s younger sister, shared in court during the reading of the victim impact statement, the emotional impact and trauma that her sister’s death has caused upon her daughter.

   She explained that the family has been shielding the daughter from all social media platforms, but that it was only recently since the conviction that they spoke openly with her about what has been happening in court in regard to the murder of her father, mother and uncle.

   Vashti then mentioned that Vivian’s daughter had asked her aunt to tell the judge to please give the “bad man” who killed her parents “50 years”. She later said that 50 years was too little; but coincidentally, it was the same number of years that Justice Pilgrim ordered Nah to serve before being eligible for parole.

NOTE: While Nah had blamed his attorney for not properly representing him in court, and even accused him of sabotaging his case and keeping him in the dark about the court proceedings relating to mitigation pleas, in court this morning, Dr.  Lynden Jones declined to make any comment on the matter.  

   Upon leaving the courtroom in handcuffs a few minutes after sentencing had been delivered, Nah was asked what he had to say about his attorney, and he yelled out, “He bogus! He sabotage my case!”

   The sentencing

   In Nah’s case, Justice Pilgrim was of the view that an appropriate starting point was at the higher end of the sentencing range, as the offense occurred in the home of two of the victims in the presence of their daughter, at the tender age of 5; and he noted that the child was traumatized by the gunman who stormed into the house, and that a child should never be traumatized like that. He also pointed out that the little girl was robbed of countless milestones with her parents.

   Justice Pilgrim went further into his analysis of the case, and highlighted the fact that Vivian provided a public service through her career dedicated to protecting Belize’s marine resources, and her death was thus a loss to the country’s public sector.

   Justice Pilgrim also drew attention to the fact that Nah was a gunman who moved with military experience, and that he was on a mission to execute the entire Ramnarace family in their house.

   Justice Pilgrim said he found almost no mitigating factors related to the offense, so while he refrained from the death penalty, his starting point was 37 years, and a range between 40-50 years.

   Ultimately, he ruled that Nah is to serve the three life sentences for murder plus the eighteen years for attempted murder, and that the sentences are to run concurrently.

   Justice Pilgrim was of the view that this was a fair sentence for the horror he executed on the Ramnarace/Belisle family on December 31, 2022.