The man who was on the run since Saturday, when thirty-year-old Damion Baptist was murdered between miles eight and nine in Ladyville, has been captured. Thirty-five-year-old Jamie Young was arrested and charged on Thursday with Baptist’s murder. The construction worker was charged with aggravated assault against Amber Dawson. He reportedly surrendered himself to police. In the presence of his attorney, Dickie Bradley, Young was read the two criminal offenses. No plea was taken from him due to the nature of the offenses, and he was denied bail and remanded to the Belize Central Prison. Dawson told News Five this week that she had broken up with Young last year and that ever since she started to date Baptist in February and Young became aware of it, he began to harass and threaten them. She said that she had made two police reports against him in that space of time and that she was in the process of taking out a restraining order against him. They were due to appear in court on Wednesday to go through that process, but Baptist was murdered on Saturday. Dawson explained how the incident unfolded on the Philip Goldson Highway and how Young had initially tried to run his truck head-on into their car near Maxboro. When Baptist swerved away and continued towards the direction of Ladyville, Young turned around and set chase, taking out a gun and aiming at the car. When heavy traffic didn’t allow Baptist to proceed any further, Dawson said Young got out of his truck, walked up to the passenger side of the car, and shot Baptist. The car careened off the highway and slammed into a lamppost on the other side of the street. An ambulance that was passing at the same time transported Baptist to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Young will be taken back to court on May thirtieth.
Tonight, three Belize City men were provided full disclosure for a 2023 murder. Today, two of the three men told the court that they had been sexually harassed while in prison. To make matters worse, they say they have not been afforded legal representation. The sitting magistrate told the men that she would further address the matter on their next court date, May third, if the situation has not improved. One of the men who says he has been sexually violated sought legal advice from Attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley in court today. Here’s what he had to say.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney
“What he has said to me is a frightening and disturbing matter, and I will take it up directly with the chief executive officer of the prison department, and then thereafter, I will be able to give you more details, but this is a very, very serious matter, and we can’t allow that kind of thing to be happening. Three persons appeared in the magistrate court today. For which the others are nodding in support of the complaint. That person has asked in court if he could be removed from where he is in the prison because he’s been sexually assaulted. It’s a very serious matter.”
Prison C.E.O. Virgilio Murillo told News Five that he is not aware of the allegations.
Convicted attorney Oscar Selgado is appealing his ruling. News Five is told that Selgado signed the appeal documents himself. On March eighth, Selgado was found guilty of abetment to commit murder. High Court Justice Nigel Pilgrim ruled that Selgado attempted to hire Giovanni Ramirez to murder Marylyn Barnes, who had filed a complaint against him for unethical behaviour with the General Legal Counsel. In his ruling, Justice Pilgrim established Ramirez as the key witness for the prosecution, affirming the veracity and dependability of Ramirez’s testimony. Selgado is expected to be sentenced on April twenty-ninth.
Earlier today, former police officer Elmer Nah appeared unrepresented before the lower court, where he requested another copy of a digital video disc containing surveillance footage of the deadly shooting on New Year’s Eve 2022 that claimed the lives of Jon, David and Vivian Ramnarace. Nah claims that the footage on the initial DVD that was provided to him is of poor quality and he cannot make out any of the faces of the individuals seen in the video. Notwithstanding the absence of prosecutor Alifah Elrington, the Chief Magistrate addressed the matter, informing Nah that he cannot be given the original DVD. In respect of his attorney’s absence from court today, Nah was also told that his counsel would be the one to address the issue of the DVD on his next court appearance. Despite his issue with the material, the Chief Magistrate ordered that he be furnished with another copy of the footage on or before his subsequent court date which is scheduled for April tenth. Nah’s case for triple murder continues with a preliminary inquiry on that given date, as he has been provided with full disclosure on the matter.
Former Belize City Mayor, Zenaida Moya has reached out to clarify the information that was shared in a court report in Monday night’s newscast. It has to do with an incident that occurred at her residence near mile five on the Philip Goldson Highway. Moya says that contrary to the court report, her caretaker, twenty-eight-year-old Corliss McKenzie entered her apartment, and that she did not let him into her room. She also says that he did not beat her up. Instead, she says, he hit her on the side of her head, when she covered her face with her hands to avoid pepper spray. Corliss McKenzie had pepper-sprayed Moya when they got into an argument that evening. McKenzie also grabbed a bread knife, held her and placed it to her neck and threatened to kill her. Moya said she stomped on his feet and McKenzie destroyed her two phones. She alleges that he also took out four hundred dollars from her purse, but handed her back some of the money and her housekeeper found the rest while cleaning the house. Hence, she says she has asked the police to drop the charge of theft against McKenzie. McKenzie is facing a slew of charges and must re-appear in court on May fourteenth.
Former Belize City Mayor, Zenaida Moya says she is a victim of an attack that occurred at her home. Moya alleges that her caretaker pepper-sprayed her, beat her up, and then stole her money. Moya told police that around five o’clock last Thursday morning, while she was at her mile five residence off the Philip Goldson Highway, her caretaker, twenty-eight-year-old Corliss McKenzie entered her room. The two reportedly got into an argument and Moya alleges that McKenzie became aggressive and pepper-sprayed her in the face, after which he punched her twice in the head. Moya said that McKenzie grabbed a bread knife, held her and placed the knife to her neck and threatened to kill her. Moya said she stomped her feet out of fear and McKenzie left but not before destroying her two phones and stealing four hundred dollars from her purse. According to Moya, she managed to escape by running out of the room and down the stairs where she was able to secure the iron gate, and that’s when she called 911 for police assistance. Moya was taken to the hospital, where a doctor classified her injuries as wounding. She has asked for court action, which led to McKenzie’s arrest. In court, he pleaded not guilty to six criminal offenses, including: aggravated assault with pepper spray, threat of death, damage to property, and theft. McKenzie was offered bail of two thousand, five hundred dollars and the case was adjourned until May fourteenth. He is not to interfere, contact or communicate with Moya and or any of her family members or any other prosecution witnesses in the case. He must also stay one hundred yards away from her, and he must report to the Queen Street Police Station twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.
He murdered his mother, sister and stepfather in November 2012 and since then, has tried everything to stall the case by changing several attorneys, requesting two sentence indications and frustrated a trial judge to the point of recusing himself from the case. But today, thirty-six-year-old Jared Ranguy opted not to stand trial and instead entered a guilty plea via a teleconference session from the Belize Central Prison. It was an emotional morning and a packed courtroom before High Court Justice, Nigel Pilgrim. News Five’s Marion Ali was there and filed this report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Jared Ranguy, who had for many years tried to usurp the justice system, by firing his attorneys to force adjournments, has finally decided not to let his court matter languish any longer by pleading guilty, instead of going to a trial. Relatives of the three deceased persons sobbed as Ranguy admitted to the court that he murdered his mother, Karen Skeen, his sister, Teena Skeen and his stepfather, Robert Vellos, as they slept inside their home in Ladyville. In responding to questions posed by High Court Judge, Nigel Pilgrim, Ranguy told the court that he indeed murdered his three family members and that he did so without provocation. He said that he was admitting to the triple murder without being coerced by anyone to do so, and that he was pleading guilty because he is guilty of the crime. When the judge asked the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, who sat in for Crown Counsel Riis Cattouse, to read the details of the three murders, Ranguy told the court that it wasn’t necessary because he was admitting to wilfully killing his family. The facts were read anyway, in order that he could agree to the sequence of events and admit guilt. D.P.P Vidal told reporters that she expected today’s outcome.
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, Director of Public Prosecutions
“I think that we anticipated [this] because of the way the discussions were going that we would have reached this point.”
Marion Ali
“And this came after many years of adjournments and change of attorneys and a previous sentence indication and even a judge recusing himself.”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal
“Yes, I imagine that the prisoner, we can call him now, would have taken a very long time to come to terms with what the sentence might look like if he pleaded guilty to three counts of murder. Whatever operated on his mind in recent months that led him to this point.”
This point for the family was also one that they had waited almost twelve years to see. While they were still very shaken, Karen Skeen’s brother, Rene Skeen, told reporters that they were consoled by his nephew’s guilty plea.
Rene Skeen
Rene Skeen, Brother of Deceased
“We’d like to thank God. The most important thing, we got justice. And the emotions, that’s – you can’t explain it. It’s been over 11 years we’ve been waiting for this, and the day has finally come. We will never get full justice. Three people are dead, but for him pleading guilty, it helped a little bit. The pain – we can deal with it a little bit better now.”
Skeen said the guilty plea saved the family a lot more heartaches than if there had been a trial.
Rene Skeen
“The family wouldn’t have to go relive what happened 11 years ago. We would have to be in court seeing guns, knives, bloody clothes, everything. We believe in the system. We’ve been doing interviews with you guys for years and years. We have family members coming from the U.S just for court every six, eight months, nine months, so after trying to manipulate the system for so long, justice caught up with him. Although we would like to see no parole at the end of the day, like I said, for the family, we got what we were requesting for him to say, look, I’m guilty. We used to say that. You guys interviewed us and we said, you guys asked, can we forgive him? I used to say no, but now you know what? I think I can.”
Ranguy’s decision came after he had gotten a sentence indication from Justice Pilgrim on March first. In that sentence indication, Justice Pilgrim informed Ranguy that if he entered a guilty plea, he could get three life sentences without the possibility of parole until after forty years, minus the eleven years that he has served behind bars. Vidal said that the guilty plea has saved considerable time because of what that process would have entailed.
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal
“There were quite a number of witnesses who would have had to have been called. There would have been voir dires in relation to the statement that would have been given admissions that were made. So it did save the court some time, but of course this matter has been before the court for a very long time.”
Rene Skeen says that moving on now will be a bit easier for the survivors.
Marion Ali
“Now this has taken a toll on all of you. We heard the subs in the courtroom. How are you all coping now?”
Rene Skeen
“Man, today the family decided to meet no matter what would have happened today for a prayer meeting. It’s going to be a good prayer meeting today. We’re going to cope better now.”
Marion Ali for News Five.
Justice Pilgrim has ordered that a psychiatric evaluation be conducted on Ranguy and that the Belize Central Prison present a report on him. As the D.P.P. pointed out, the sentence indication is not the actual sentence. Ranguy’s attorney, Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith has until April twenty-second to submit a mitigation plea in writing and the court was adjourned until May thirteenth.
Jared Ranguy pleaded guilty a short while ago to triple murder. Justice Nigel Pilgrim has reserved sentencing until after mitigation pleas are submitted. Ranguy pleaded guilty to the murders of his mother, sister, and stepfather in Ladyville in November of 2012. In court, the relatives of the deceased persons sobbed as Ranguy admitted that he killed the victims without provocation.
His guilty plea came after having gotten a sentence indication, meaning that he decided to plead guilty without going to a trial. News Five will have the full details, including an interview with the family, in our newscast live at 6.
Former female coast guard officer Keyren Tzib is out on bail tonight after being convicted of attempted murder on Wednesday by High Court Judge Candace Nanton. On Wednesday, Justice Nanton found Tzib guilty of an attempt on the life of a colleague, Kurt Hyde, as they were returning to the Belize Coast Guard Headquarters here in Belize City. The incident, as we’ve reported, took place on April sixth, 2015. Tzib spent the night in lockdown at the Queen Street Police Station before posting bail in the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, plus three sureties of five thousand dollars each. The conditions of her bail include that she must sign in at the Orange Walk Police Station, as well as report to the High Court once a week. Tzib was represented in court by attorney Darrell Bradley.
Sixty-three-year-old Anke Doehm, an American national who was found guilty in the High Court last week for cruelty to a child, appeared in court today after being on remand at the Belize Central Prison. This morning, Doehm alighted from the prison bus that brought her back to Belize City. She appeared fragile and ill, visibly affected by her imprisonment. There was, however, a delay in her sentencing and she was returned to prison until April eighth when Justice Derick Sylvester is expected to deliver a sentence. As we’ve reported, Doehm stood trial following the death of thirteen-year-old Fay Lin Cannon back in 2017. The tragic incident involving the abused teenager happened in San Pedro.
