Photo: (l-r) Romelio Logan, Jahsimir Cob and Reydel Teck

by Roy Davis (freelance reporter)

BELIZE CITY, Wed. Apr. 19, 2023

Three former police constables who were convicted of manslaughter last October, were sentenced to prison when they appeared today before Justice Ricardo Sandcroft. They are Romelio Logan, 28; Jahsimir Cob, 27; and Reydel Teck, 27.

The three had been charged for the beating of Edwin Ixtapac, 29, which occurred on March 7, 2016, in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, and which caused injuries to Ixtapac that led to his death 3 days later. They were originally charged with murder, but the charge was downgraded to manslaughter.

Attorney Oscar Selgado, who represented the three former cops, delivered a plea for mitigation in which he asked that his clients be given a non-custodial sentence and be allowed to pay a fine. He said that they were rookie police officers who didn’t have any experience in their line of work.

Each of the three was given an opportunity to speak from the dock on his behalf. They all expressed their remorse for causing the death of Ixtapac.

Crown Counsel Robert Lord, who represented the Crown, said that the offence for which the men were convicted carries a sentence of imprisonment for life, and that Ixtapac was the sole breadwinner for his wife and young child.

Before he passed sentence, Justice Sandcroft said that he would not sentence them to life imprisonment, but he could not give them a non-custodial sentence and a fine. He said he would use 15 years as a starting point and would subtract 5 years from it. He also said that he would subtract the 13 months that they spent on remand from the resulting 10 years, which would leave a prison term of 8 years and 11 months.

Selgado has indicated that he will serve the court with a notice of appeal.