Unconfirmed report cites damages and costs award at $300,000
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Aug. 7, 2025
High Court Justice Tawanda Hondora has found the Belize Central Prison liable for the wrongful death of Belmopan businessman, 68-year-old Jahangir Rahman Mahdi Abadi, who died on August 31, 2019 while serving a six-year sentence for abetment to murder by solicitation of businessman, Michael Modiri. Abadi was indicted in January 2016, and was sentenced in November 2018 by Supreme Court Justice Antoinette Moore in a trial without jury.
At the time of his imprisonment, Abadi suffered from multiple health complications, including uncontrolled diabetes, uncontrolled chronic kidney disease, uncontrolled hypertension and other comorbidities. A medical report tendered into evidence by Abadi at the sentencing hearing reflected that within an almost 3-year period from 2015 to 2018, he had visited the Western Regional hospital 32 times, and suffered from recurrent fevers, respiratory issues, muscle pain and weakness.
The year after his death, his wife, Gilda Abadi and their two children (ages 16 and 17 at the time) sued the Attorney General and the Superintendent of Prisons who operates the prison under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The trial started on June 18, 2024. The claimants, who were represented by attorney Leeroy Banner, contended that the prison authorities failed to provide Abadi with adequate treatment and medication, and also failed to refer him for necessary treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH). They held that there was breach of duty to ensure Abadi’s health and safety, as they did not ensure he had reasonable access to treatment at the KHMH.
According to the evidence submitted, Mrs. Abadi visited her husband almost daily, and would notify prison authorities when he was seriously ill. The prison allowed a private medical assessment of Abadi which showed, on January 4, 2019, that he was under psychological stress, and that his physical condition had clearly worsened from a first visit on December 14, 2018. The doctor recorded in a report on the visit that Abadi was in a “greater degree of renal dysfunction.” He explained that the patient was at “a very high risk of developing two potentially fatal complications, [i.e.] diabetic ketoacidosis and severe coagulation disorders.” Deeming his conditions as life threatening, the doctor recommended that there be a change in Abadi’s living conditions, strict control of his glycemia, use of platelet antiaggregant drugs, and use of antihypertensive drugs.
Mrs. Abadi reported that her husband’s health continued to deteriorate, and between May and July 2019, she requested that he be examined by another doctor, this time from one of the private medical facilities in Belize City. This was done, and it was determined he was suffering as well from clinical depression. The doctor also stated that optimal care could only be obtained in a home environment.
Mrs. Abadi says when she complained on August 16 about her husband’s health, she was told that “the rules applied to everybody.” She visited again on August 22 but on August 23, she says she was prevented from seeing him, as the prison was preparing for “a celebratory event called ‘Kolbe week.’” On August 26, she was denied seeing her husband, with the explanation that he was in poor health. The following day she sought to speak with the prison CEO, Virgilio Murillo, who informed her that Abadi had been in a medical cell since August 26. The prison’s medical officer, Dr. Javier Novelo would report that he had been taken to the medical center from August 25.
Out of frustration, on August 28th, Mrs. Abadi got a law firm involved to request by e-mail at 3:34 p.m. that Abadi receive treatment at a private hospital. Murillo responded six minutes later approving the treatment, as long as the family covered the expenses. In the end, Abadi was taken by prison authorities to the KHMH that same day. The triage sheet reflected that he was admitted at 3:42 p.m. in respiratory distress, having been “referred from physician in Kolbe Prison due to severe dehydration and hyperglycaemia. Brought by prison ward unkempt.” The hospital also recorded that he was suffering from septic shock. Abadi died at the KHMH three days later.
The prison argued that they had not caused Abadi’s death; rather, that Abadi contributed to his own death by “not looking after himself, by declining to eat, by keeping himself unkempt, and because he ate sweets when diabetics should know to not eat sweets.” Justice Hondora found that the prison authorities failed to prove these claims.
A witness statement ascribed to Dr. Novelo indicated that he continuously found Abadi fit to remain in prison, and that they continued administering insulin to him at the medical centre, but he began showing signs of mild depression and decreased his food consumption. Apart from insulin, analgesics were the only medication administered to Abadi by the prison. Dr. Novelo did share that for one or two months, Mrs. Abadi took her husband medication for his kidney ailment. He also noted that 12 days after the first private physician’s assessment in January 2019, that Abadi fainted and was given oxygen and treatment. Abadi would faint again on March 18, 2019, and was taken to the medical centre and later discharged. Dr. Novelo outlined several other evaluations and visits to the medical centre in March; and on March 29, he said he received a report that Abadi had refused his meal. This occurred again several times in April. On April 10, the prison again accepted that a private doctor evaluate Abadi. Dr. Novelo then stated that after April, Abadi’s health began to deteriorate and he had become weaker, so he was transferred to a cell closer to the medical center to receive care when necessary.
On June 16 this year, Justice Hondora delivered his judgment and found that there was gross negligence on the part of the prison in the handing of Abadi’s case. He wrote, “I also find that the prison authorities’ non-treatment of Mr. Abadi for all of his serious medical conditions more likely than not caused or were the material cause for his death.” As regards the Prison Rules which require that the medical officer “shall have the care of the mental [and] physical health of the prisoners and shall every day see every prisoner, every prisoner who complains of illness…and every…prisoner to whom attention is specifically directed,” the judge found that the medical officer breached his statutory duty of care. Additionally, he found that Dr. Novelo did not properly consider the reports of the private physicians regarding Abadi’s health; instead, he turned “a blind eye” to them. Justice Hondora ruled that both the medical officer and the prison CEO ought to have reported Abadi’s condition to the Minister responsible for prisons with recommendations as to his continued imprisonment. The judge frowned on the practice of having diabetic patients self-administer insulin when, in Abadi’s case, he was very ill, fainted and appeared fatigued. He also highlighted that Dr. Novelo appeared to be of the view that Abadi was feigning illness or causing himself to be ill by purposefully not eating. Again, Justice Hondora noted that this was inconsistent with the evidence.
Justice Hondora also took note of the doctor’s record of the sequence of events on August 28 when Abadi was taken to the hospital. Dr. Novelo said he was notified at 2:30 p.m. that Abadi was weak and not breathing adequately. He observed that he had fever, shortness of breath and signs of dehydration, and says he administered insulin and ordered that Abadi be taken to the KHMH. The judge notes that Dr. Novelo did not indicate taking any action to treat the fever, shortness of breath and signs of dehydration. The autopsy revealed that Abadi died from lung failure and pneumonia. It was also determined that he had suffered multiple-organ failure and sepsis and acute pulmonary oedema.
The judge pointed out that for the first time, and improperly so, in the written pleadings, the defendants submitted that they did not owe Abadi a duty of care, as there was no special relationship between him and them as defendants. Justice Hondora noted that, even if they had applied for leave to amend their pleadings, he would have dismissed the pleading, as it is his view that “prison authorities owe a general positive duty of care to any person in their custody, i.e., for that person’s health and safety.” The judge ruled that prison authorities ought to have ensured that Abadi had access in prison to the necessary treatment and drugs, or that he was referred to the KHMH for regular assessments and treatment. In this case, except for a few weeks in July and August 2019, it was Mrs. Abadi who sourced the medication for the prison. He wrote, “The prison authorities did not treat Mr. Abadi for any of his other underlying medical conditions, i.e., save for diabetes and abdominal and joint pain.” He also determined that the evidence shows that a couple days passed before he was treated since his admission at the medical centre on August 25/26. He also declared that, by their own actions and admissions, the defendants accepted that Abadi was seriously ill and in need of treatment, and that the prison did not have the necessary diagnostic and treatment resources. Hondora questioned why this is the case.
On June 4, 2025, the Court was formally notified that the parties had arrived at an out-of-court settlement for damages and costs and that the terms were confidential. A figure of $300,000 was reported this week, but attorney Banner told Amandala that he cannot confirm this, as confidentiality was part of the agreement. The damages and legal costs are to be paid by the Government of Belize.
The Attorney General was represented by Jorge Matus and Imani Burgess, while the Superintendent of Prison was represented by Philip Zuniga.
