TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan High Court on Friday (Sept. 11) brought the four convicted in the gruesome murder of an alleged Canadian drugs dealer in 2018 back to the scene of the crime to work out discrepancies in their account of the event.
Israeli-American dual citizen Oren Shlomo Mayer was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for the death of Canadian citizen Sanjay Ryan Ramgahan. Another U.S. national, Ewart Odane Bent, received 12 years and six months in prison as both were found guilty of the murder, dismemberment and abandonment of his body.
American Jason Hobbie was sentenced to 18 months and Taiwanese-Canadian Wu Hsuan (吳宣) to six months for aiding and abetting the murder.
All four were present at the Xindian River in Yonghe, New Taipei City, Friday where prosecutors wanted to find out more details about the case. A witness told them that while he was fishing near the scene, he heard a heavy object falling into the water and saw Mayer and Bent walk around in the area, CNA reported.
Friday morning’s gathering was the result of discrepancies in the account given by Mayer compared with the stories of the others, officials said. The reenactment started at 10 a.m. but lasted until the afternoon as the participants had to rest because of the heat.
The murder was the result of Mayer’s suspicions that Ramgahan had betrayed their drug dealings to the police. He called the Canadian to the river bank where he reportedly killed and dismembered him with help from Bent, while Hobbie and Wu followed along. Hobbie said Mayer had asked him to burn Ramgahan’s clothes, while Wu had been told to buy a knife, with both men arguing they had not been directly involved in killing the Canadian.