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Mónica Spear
Three men have been sentenced to many years in jail for the killing of Venezuelan beauty queen Monica Spear in January 2014.
The three had pleaded guilty.
Monica Spear, 29, and her British partner, Thomas Berry, were shot dead in front of their five-year-old daughter during a roadside robbery.
According to UN figures, Venezuela has the second-highest peacetime murder rate in the world, but the brutality of the crime shocked the country.
Prosecutors said the three men were part of a larger gang which targeted motorists along a highway leading from Valencia to Puerto Cabello.
The court said seven other people were still on trial for the crime but had denied the charges.
The murder of Monica Spear, who was crowned Miss Venezuela in 2004, prompted demonstrations against Venezuela’s high crime rate
The sentences for the three men range between 24 and 26 years in jail.
The family, who lived in the US, was on a visit to Monica Spear’s home country when they were targeted.
They were travelling at night from the city of Merida to the capital, Caracas, when their car hit a sharp object, puncturing two tyres.
While they waited for breakdown assistance, they were ambushed by the armed gang.
When the couple and their daughter hid inside the car, they were shot at by the robbers.
Monica Spear and Thomas Berry died instantly. Their daughter, Maya, was shot in the leg.
The murder of the popular beauty queen, who was crowned Miss Venezuela in 2004, prompted demonstrations against the country’s high crime rate.
President Nicolas Maduro promised to respond with “an iron fist” and said he would make tackling crime one of the government’s top priorities.
Last week, Nicolas Maduro announced his government would invest $47 million to further expand a plan to disarm civilians.
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Venezuela’s Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres has given out his personal mobile phone number on live television, and urged police officers to call him directly to report cases of corruption within the force.
Miguel Rodriguez Torres said rooting out corruption was the only way for the police to regain public trust.
Police corruption is seen as one reason why Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
His comments come amid public anger after the murder of former beauty queen Monica Spear.
Monica Spear and her ex-husband, Thomas Berry, were gunned down in their car in front of their five-year-old daughter, who was wounded.
Monica Spear and her ex-husband, Thomas Berry, were gunned down in their car
Seven people have been arrested in connection with the crime.
“New police officers will always have some great superiors, well-prepared ones,” Miguel Rodriguez Torres said at an official ceremony in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
“But they also are going to get some bad eggs. Report them fearlessly because their (corruption) undermines police authority for the Venezuelan people.”
“Just give me the information right away, and we will rip the head off that immoral police superior,” the minister warned, after giving the officers his mobile number.
The murder of Monica Spear, thought to have been a botched robbery, has reignited debate about insecurity in Venezuela.
Experts often cite police corruption as part of the crime crisis; most homicides go unpunished.
Last year, nearly 25,000 people were killed in the South American country, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a non-governmental organization.
Monica Spear and her former partner were buried on Friday in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
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Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro suggested Wednesday that the murder of former beauty queen Monica Spear and her ex-husband Thomas Berry was a targeted hit and not a random robbery gone wrong.
“That assassination seems more like a contract killing,” Nicolas Maduro said.
“We have identified those involved in this assassination and we are going to look for them.”
Nicolas Maduro provided no evidence that that Monica Spear was the victim of a murder-for-hire. Police had earlier described the Monday night shooting as a botched highway heist and said they were questioning five people.
The high-profile shooting — which left Monica Spear’s 5-year-old daughter wounded — has sparked outrage over violent crime in Venezuela, which had more than 24,000 homicides last year.
Protesters, including some celebrities, held a march to demand better public safety on Wednesday.
After winning the title of Miss Venezuela and competing in the Miss Universe pageant, Monica Spear appeared in a half-dozen Spanish language soap operas
President Nicolas Maduro called a security meeting with all the country’s governors and the mayors of 79 cities with high crime rates.
“If there’s any sense to this pain, it has to be so that we all wake up,” he said of Monica Spear’s death.
Monica Spear’s ex-husband, Thomas Henry Berry, 39, an adventure tour operator, moved to the US about 15 years ago after being shot, but returned to Venezuela in 2006.
Although the couple split about two years ago, they remained closed and spent holidays and vacations together with their daughter, Maya, friends and relatives said.
They had spent the New Year on an idyllic road trip that took them from scenic Merida to the beach and to the plains, where Monica Spear, 29, who was raised on a ranch, rode horses. A video she posted to Instagram showed her blowing kisses to the camera on horseback.
After winning the title of Miss Venezuela and competing in the Miss Universe pageant, Monica Spear appeared in a half-dozen Spanish language soap operas, most recently Pasion Prohibida and Flor Salvaje on Telemundo.
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Monica Spear and her Irish husband Thomas Berry have been shot dead in their car in Venezuela.
Their five-year-old daughter, who was injured in the incident, is said to be in a stable condition in hospital.
Police have launched an investigation into the killing, which happened on the highway leading from Valencia to Puerto Cabello.
Monica Spear, 29, became Miss Venezuela in 2004, and also acted in soap operas.
Monica Spear and her Irish husband Thomas Berry have been shot dead in their car in Venezuela
Local media reported that Monica Spear and her husband had stopped by the roadside because their car had broken down.
The gunmen opened fire in what police said might have been a robbery gone wrong.
Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and armed robberies and kidnappings are not unusual.
