A man was fined today for consuming alcoholic drinks in a public space. Twenty-five-year-old Francisco Torres pleaded guilty to public drinking after he was caught drinking a beer in public. The incident happened on January twenty-eighth on West Canal. In court, Torres wasted no time to plead guilty to the charge, and picked up a fine of thirty dollars plus five dollars cost of court. Torres has until March twelfth to pay the fine or he will spend a week at the Belize Central Prison.
Category: Trials
No Case Submission Refused in Oscar Selgado Trial
Attorney Oscar Selgado was back in court today to hear Justice Nigel Pilgrim’s verdict on a no case submission by his attorney Adolph Lucas. Selgado and his attorney did not receive the news they hoped for, as Justice Pilgrim wasted no time in handing down his ruling. The no case submission was denied by the High Court. Following the verdict, Selgado took to the witness stand to testify. He was then cross examined by the Director of Public Prosecution. News Five Paul Lopez was present in court. He tells us how it all played out.
Attorney Oscar Selgado returned to the High Court this morning for a verdict on a no case submission by his attorney, Adolph Lucas. Selgado’s trial for abetment to commit murder has been ongoing since October 2023, before Justice Nigel Pilgrim. The matter, which is nearing conclusion, has seen both the defense and the crown close their arguments. In response to a no case submission filed at the end of the last hearing, this morning Justice Pilgrim ruled that the application to withdraw the charge against Selgado is refused by the court.
Justice Pilgrim considered the primary evidence established in this trial, those being seven recorded phone conversations purportedly between Giovanni Ramirez and Selgado. Ramirez is the individual Selgado allegedly contracted to kill Marlyn Barnes, a woman who filed a complaint against him before the General Legal Council. In his ruling, Justice Pilgrim also considered the testimonies of Commissioner of Police Chester Williams and former Inspector of Police Wilfredo Ferrufino. Both men testified that they are familiar with Selgado and that police received those phone recordings with Selgado from Ramirez. As we have reported, those recordings would later go missing.
Following the ruling, Selgado was given three options, remain silent, make a statement from the dock, or provide a testimony from the witness stand. Selgado opted to speak from the witness stand. The fifty-four-year-old attorney initially refuted claims by the Commissioner of Police that they made contact with each other twenty-three years ago when Selgado was a Belize Defense Force soldier. Selgado further argued that when Williams became the commanding officer at Eastern Division, he had no reason to contact him. As for the phone recordings that were placed on two disks by Ferrufino and handed over to the court before going missing, Selgado says he was never provided any copies of those disks during his disclosure hearing. Selgado maintained his innocence and his argument that he does not know Giovanni Ramirez, nor did he contract Martinez to murder Marlyn Barnes, as is alleged.
Reporter
“It is a win for you that the judge did not throw out the case
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“We don’t speak in those terms”
Reporter
“Even a small win?”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“We don’t use those word.”
Reporter
“But it is encouraging that the judge did not throw out the case today?”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“We did not think that the judge was in danger of being thrown out to use your words?”
Reporter
“What follows now in the case?”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“Addresses.”
Reporter
“How much longer will the case go on?”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“We return on the thirteenth and we will complete our addresses on that day and then the judge will set a date for him to give his verdict on that matter.”
Reporter
“You said of all the untruths you said from the witness stand this was your biggest.”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
Yes, you quoted me correctly, what is your question
Reporter
No I was just trying to get clarity on exactly what you said.
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“Yes.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
Shane Bennett Gets Life in Prison for Murder
In January 2020, thirty-six-year-old Anthony Parks was gunned downed in Independence Village, he succumbed to his injuries eleven days later. But when his suspected killer was convicted of murder in April 2022, Shane Bennett escaped from lawful custody and fled to Punta Gorda where he was recaptured shortly thereafter. Tonight, Bennett is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole until after he has completed a minimum of twenty-five years in prison. Bennett has been on remand at the Belize Central Prison for the past three years and that’s the only time that will be deducted from his lengthy prison stay. That’s the judgment of High Court Justice Antoinette Moore earlier today.
Defense Attorney: Media Was Not Intentionally Barred from Trial
On Monday, the case of the Bladen Twelve – that is, the twelve men, including four policemen who are linked to the landing of a drug plane on the Southern Highway back in November of 2021 – was transferred to another building. The matter was moved at the eleventh hour from the Magistrates’ Court building on Coney Drive to the Charles Bartlett Hyde building on Mahogany Street. The reason for the transfer was space issues. As defense attorney for several of the men, Dickie Bradley explained, the Coney Drive building is just not big enough to accommodate twelve defendants, their team of defense attorneys, the prosecutors and the magistrate. But, in the transfer of the matter to Mahogany Street, two oversights occurred. Media coverage was not given any consideration; hence, it became a logistical problem when reporters arrived at the location, as the building also houses the Belize Family Court. That court is closed to media personnel because of the sensitive nature of family court matters that oftentimes involve children. So, without prior notification and permission, the media was not allowed inside. Bradley told News Five that it was never the intention to shut out news reporters from the Bladen drug plane trial.
Dickie Bradley, Attorney at Law
“Towards the end of last week, the Magistrates’ Court was able to secure the use of the upstairs flat at what is the Charles Bartlett Hyde building. So we ourselves only knew at last minute, so the media would not have known. And I don’t want to say what I think, but I know for a fact that at the end of yesterday’s morning proceedings, it was brought to the attention of the Senior Magistrate, Baja Shoman that the media had been barred from attending the court, and her immediate response was that court trials in this country, by law, are open to the public, which happens to not only include the media, the media has a special protection under the Constitution that you all have a right to obtain information and to disseminate information. There are words of that effect in the Constitution of Belize, so the media is especially to be allowed. So that was the first thing. And as I said, I got no instruction that the media are barred and the media have every right to come.”
Marion Ali
“Even though the conditions with the space issues and all of that did not provide for us to be…”
Dickie Bradley
“Well, that was a separate excuse, reason because she would have sent for chairs to accommodate the media. That’s how high a regard she would have for – as a magistrate, as a judge. As somebody in the legal profession, she knows that the media has an important role to play. Otherwise, second-hand information. and yerisoh and sh—shu-shu will end up ruling the airwaves. So let the media come on here and see for themselves. So that was her first response, which of course is supported by the chief justice and the chief magistrate of the country.
The matter has been resolved. It is my understanding that the formal word has been handed out by the chief magistrate that the media is to be allowed to attend.”
S.I. to Declare Charles Hyde Building the Bladen Trial Venue
But while the media was inadvertently disallowed from entering the building to attend the court session, it didn’t miss out of very much. Bradley said that all that happened was that the attorneys are to agree on which witnesses are not required to testify in person. The witnesses will number at least sixty. Yes, sixty, because the Head of the Prosecutions Branch, Alifa Elrington has indicated that she has sixty witnesses whose evidence they will rely on. And while the trial starts on Monday, it is expected that another oversight will be quickly addressed. A Statutory Instrument declaring that the Charles Hyde building has been assigned for the Bladen trial needs to be put out before the trial begins. That is in following proper procedures, which involve informing the head of the Judiciary and the Magistracy, as well as the Attorney General and the Solicitor General, indicating the reason for such. Bradley explained that efforts have been made to put those procedures in motion, but time was of the essence.
Dickie Bradley, Defense Attorney
“The rules are made to guide us. They are not to be obstacles that you can’t overcome. There is a small little – not even an emergency – there’s a small little problem, and there are two matters which we need to bear in mind: that there are a dozen accused persons. The courts on Coney Drive, which are temporary crisis management situations, cannot really accommodate twelve accused persons, five attorneys, a magistrate, and so on. Yes, there is a law that requires that a publication is made where a court is going to be held in a new environment. The courts in the country are so important to all of us that when you are moving from Albert Street to Coney Drive, the nation should know, people should know where the court is.”
Marion Ali
“Was that done in this case?”
Dickie Bradley
“That was being done in this case, yes. I’m not them, I’m not with them either, I’m with you. If they made a little slip down, it’s understandable, it is explainable. And there is no malice or no attempt to try – I saw a media personality, a journalist, sent me a text making the suggestion that it is deliberate because they don’t want the media to be present. But that is not true. I know what happened here. I was, there.”
Accused Robbers Head to Trial Seven Years Later
A case of attempted murder during which Tyrone Scott was robbed and stabbed multiple times in September 2016, is set to begin in April. Elward McKay and Alexander Bainton have been charged with dangerous harm and robbery stemming from the incident over seven years ago. But when the duo appeared in the High Court earlier today when the trial was initial scheduled to commence, Bainton decided to challenge the Crown to prove its charge against him. The matter is being dealt with by Justice Candace Nanton. While McKay pleaded guilty, his alleged accomplice instead challenged the Crown Counsel, resulting in an adjournment to April fifteenth, 2024. In the case of McKay, Justice Nanton reoffered bail in the sum of six thousand dollars, plus one surety of the same amount.
High Court Hands Down a Life Sentence for Marlon Everett
A life sentence has been handed down by Justice Candance Nanton in a murder case involving thirty-three-year-old Marlon Everett. He was convicted of murder in the shooting death of Albert Johnson which occurred in April 2018. In imposing the life sentence, Everett was informed that he will not be eligible for parole until he has served twenty-eight years in prison. Johnson was shot and killed while he was walking ahead of two other persons on Regent Street. According to the main witness, Everett was walking approximately six feet behind Johnson when he, the Crown’s witness, pushed his hand inside his pants, produced a firearm and handed it to Everett who crept up behind Johnson and fired two shots, fatally injuring him. Despite the murder being captured on surveillance footage, the identity of the shooter was not clear. A police officer was also called as a witness who testified to being able to identify the gunman as Everett, after recognizing him from the footage. Everett’s sentence takes effect retroactively, from April twenty-first, 2018.
Is Collin Francis Fit to Stand Trial for Murder?
A competency hearing to determine whether Collin Francis Junior is eligible to stand trial for the murder of Nestor Vasquez Junior continued today before Justice Nigel Pilgrim. The High Court judge called on Virgilio Murillo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kolbe Foundation, to testify on the conditions of the Belize Central Prison should Francis be deemed unfit to stand trial. Assurances must be given that Francis will be kept in a safe environment and that the C.E.O. must be able to determine where that safe space is. On November twenty-fifth, 2019, Collin Francis Junior was arraigned for the murder of sixty-year-old Nestor Vasquez Junior who was beaten to death inside a holding cell at the Queen Street Police Station. That incident happened on June sixth, 2019 when Vasquez and Francis, both diagnosed with mental illness, were placed inside a cell while in police custody. Vasquez was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital but succumbed to his injuries two days later.
Selgado Abetment Trial To Resume Tuesday
The trial of Attorney, Oscar Selgado was scheduled to resume today before Justice Nigel Pilgrim, but it never got a chance to proceed beyond where it was adjourned on December nineteenth. This morning, there was a sexual assault case involving a minor that spilled over from last week that was given priority. The Selgado trial was adjourned for this afternoon, but the other trial had not concluded. Hence, the Selgado trial was adjourned again until ten Tuesday morning. Selgado, as we’ve reported, is charged with abetment to commit murder against Marilyn Barnes. Barnes had reported Selgado to the General Legal Counsel for unethical behaviour. And then Geovanni Ramirez, who had sought Selgado’s assistance for a separate matter when he was charged with a gun offense, claimed that Selgado had tried to hire him to murder Barnes. The investigating officer in the matter, former Inspector of Police, Wilfredo Ferrufino, is expected to be called to testify when the trial resumes, as well as the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams. Williams had met with Ramirez upon Ramirez’ request to discuss the matter when he felt that his safety was at risk. Of note is that today, both the prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lyn Vidal and Defense Attorney, Adolph Lucas Senior, agreed to have evidence that came out of a voir dire held late last year in the trial, be admitted in the substantive matter when it resumes on Tuesday.
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Ivan Ayuso’s Case Adjourned
The case of a former employee of the Belize Sports Council was today adjourned before High Court Judge, Nigel Pilgrim. During the virtual session this morning, attorney Darrell Bradley, argued over the classification of charges that were brought against the defendant, Ivan Ayuso. The question of whether theft or money laundering was the right charge brought against Ayuso, based on the use of the monies after being stolen, became an argument that will be decided upon at a later date. Both the defense and the prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, have differing views on whether theft or money laundering ought to be the charge that Ayuso should be facing. Ayuso, a senior accounts clerk at the National Sports Council, is accused of theft of one point zero nine million dollars during the time that he was there in the years preceding 2016. The charges followed revelations brought out in an audit report of the Sport Council’s finances, a former attorney for Ayuso had said publicly following the charges that Ayuso was responsible for preparing checks, for which he was not authorized to sign. In January of 2021, Ayuso was granted bail in the sum of three hundred thousand dollars. Ayuso was ordered to return to court on January thirty-first, when a decision will be made on the charges for which he faces trial. Ivan Ayuso was also charged back in 2002 with arson in connection with the fire that destroyed the Paslow Building. He was acquitted of the charge.