Anhang Accused To Stand Trial

Published: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

ANHANG ACCUSED TO STAND TRIAL IN PUERTO RICO

Enough evidence to justify a trial, says judge

The murder by stabbing of popular online gambling executive Adam Anhang last year had a sequel in a Puerto Rico preliminary hearing court this week, when the judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence available to put a 23 year old dishwasher on trial for the crime.

Anhang, a Canadian national, real estate entrepreneur and head of the Casino Web Cam group was beaten and stabbed to death in front of witnesses in a tourist district of the Puerto Rican capital San Juan.

Associated Press reported this week that after listening to the testimony of a witness and an investigator, the judge ruled there was enough evidence to try Jonathan Roman Rivera on murder and weapons charges in the September 2005 death of Anhang.

Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Linares scheduled the trial for Oct. 24. Roman, who is free on bail, worked as a dishwasher at the Pink Skirt, a bar and restaurant that Anhang had purchased for his wife in historic Old San Juan.

Witnesses said that the couple had just left the establishment, after discussing the terms of their pending divorce, when they were attacked by a man with a knife. A witness, Carlos Cotto Cartagena, later identified Roman in a photo lineup and again in court.

"I got a good look at him," Cotto, a lawyer, told the judge. "My view wasn't blocked and I wasn't far away. I saw it up close."

An older man saw the incident from his balcony and yelled at the assailant to stop but could not see the attacker's face, the witness said.

Roman has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Carmelo Davila, told reporters outside the court that another man from the same seaside neighbourhood as the defendant is responsible for the slaying but that police haven't located him.

Anhang (32) was a real estate investor developing several hotel projects in Puerto Rico and was chief executive officer of CWC Gaming, an Internet gambling software company based in Costa Rica. His wife, Aurea Vazquez Rijos, was treated for undisclosed injuries sustained in the attack but later declined to co-operate with investigators, police said.

Vazquez, who did not attend the preliminary hearing, has filed a lawsuit against Anhang's family in Winnipeg, Canada seeking a portion of her late husband's estate. During a break in Tuesday's proceedings, the executive's father, Abraham Anhang, was served with the lawsuit.