Trials - Channel 5 Belize

Immigration Officer Arraigned for Extortion

This morning, a junior immigration officer from Corozal Town was arraigned for extortion. Allegations are that on Friday, March fifteenth, thirty-one-year-old Monique Escalante demanded three thousand U.S. dollars from Jamaican national Janhoi Richards while he was at the Philip Goldson International Airport. Escalante claims she was legally authorized to do so as an immigration officer. Escalante was offered bail in the sum of eight thousand dollars and a surety of the same amount, which she met. As a part of Escalante’s bail conditions, she is to surrender her travel documents to the court, abstain from contacting Richards, and report to the Racoon Street Police Station every Friday, effective this week. In an interview with Escalante’s attorney, Audrey Matura, she claimed that the arrest of her client is merely a scapegoat for other immigration officers taking advantage of their position, but she also maintained that her client is innocent.

Audrey Matura, Attorney For Defendant

“The first thing I’ll say is that it’s interesting what is happening. If the department believes there’s a problem up at the airport, They need to locate it beyond trying to use my client as a scapegoat and I say that because the second thing is that, the facts as is being stated is very questionable because according to the records that they will have there is that Mister Richards who’s making these allegations, came into the country of the fifteenth of March. And I saw the report gave the impression that as this. alleged incident happened; he ran to the police to get help. That’s not true. He went to the police the twentieth of March and what the department and people who are concerned are not saying is that he only made a report after he tried to leave Belize through the Belize Mexico border and the immigration officers there stopped him and then he came up with this story. A very important thing on the point of this person, mister Richards, that made the allegations, when he came into this country, he said that he would be staying at Belcove Hotel, that he would leave Belize the twenty-second of March via the same airline going to Panama. He attempts to leave Belize to Mexico border, Belize Mexico border. What the senior officials need to tell us the public is where is he? Where’s the record that he left? Because the real scam is not what they’re accusing my client of doing. The real scam is who in the department is running the rocket to help people to get through to the border, to leave this country and transit to Mexico. That’s where the real issue is. Like I said, my client is just the scapegoat. So I think they need to account and give proof if this man has left the jurisdiction And if he hasn’t based on what he declared as the reason he’s coming in where are the charges against him?”

Trial Against Bladen 12 Adjourned, Again

The men accused of facilitating the landing of a drug plane in the south in 2021 appeared in court today. They are known as the Bladden Twelve, and today the trial judge adjourned the proceedings. That’s because the attorney for some of the accused, Oscar Selgado, is incarcerated and unable to represent them. Attorney Richard Bradley explained.

Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for Defendants

“We are a bit taken aback, but it is unavoidable, at least for this morning, if not for the rest of the day. Four of the accused in the Bladden drug plane, drug trafficking, landing of a plane without permission case, those four persons had the illustrious Oscar Selgado as their attorney. He is unable to make it this morning because he doesn’t control his time. So, the four persons have asked and one of our colleagues attorney is going to represent them. And of course that only came up this morning when they all came to court. So, the Magistrate quite rightly said that they are entitled to be properly represented and so she agreed to the request for adjournment in relation to that matter. Hoping that we would then come bright and early on Holy Thursday to try and get a full morning but like bad luck Mr. Jones has also received a last minute notice that he has been appointed by the high court to represent a person in a murder trial so he’s going to try and see how he could get that sorted out this afternoon. And in relation to Thursday that is not going to work. So we are going, God willing, on the third day of April to get a full day and thereafter if things remain on track, I repeat on track, then the 8th of April we will continue and between myself and the others we’ll try and see how far we could get before a day advanced by the 9th day of April.”

Man Wanted for Murder Hands Self In; Arraigned

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.

Inmates Complain of Sexual Harassment Behind Bars

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 Files Appeal

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.

Accused Murderer Elmer Nah Requests New Copy of Surveillance Footage

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 Mayor Says She Was Not Beaten Up

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 City Mayor, Zenaida Moya Attacked at Home

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.

Man Pleads Guilty to Murdering His Family

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, 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, 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 Pleads Guilty to Murdering his Family

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.