by Roy Davis (Freelance Writer)

BELIZE CITY, Tues. Apr. 1, 2025

Oscar Selgado, 55, a former attorney who was convicted of abetment to murder and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, was denied bail yesterday by the Belize Court of Appeal.

Selgado’s application for bail was based on the ground that he is appealing his conviction and sentence. But the Court of Appeal turned down his request for bail, because the court has no assurance that his appeal will be successful.

Selgado was represented by a Trinidadian attorney, Peter Taylor, while the Crown was represented by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Cheryl Lyn Vidal.

Taylor had submitted to Justice Arif Bulcan that Selgado should be granted bail because of his health (he is a diabetic), pending the outcome of his appeal.

But Justice Bulcan, in his decision to deny bail, said that the appeal was already expedited and it will be heard in June of this year.

Selgado, who was one of the most prolific criminal attorneys in Belize, was convicted of abetment to murder on March 8, 2024. Justice Nigel Pilgrim, who was the trial judge, sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment after he heard a plea for mitigation and a victim impact assessment statement.

Selgado was arrested and charged following the allegation that in 2019, he attempted to hire Giovanni Ramirez (now deceased) to kill an elderly woman, Marilyn Barnes, because Barnes had made a complaint to the General Legal Council about an alleged sexual assault that Selgado committed against a boy, and she was going to testify to the Council about it, which Selgado believed could result in his being disbarred.

But instead of carrying out the “hit”, Ramirez made video and audio recordings on his phone of his meetings with Selgado, and requested that Selgado give him $1,000 in exchange for the phone with the recordings.

Selgado agreed, and he and Ramirez were set to meet the following day at their usual meeting place, near to the “Complex” (now Charles Bartlett Hyde) Building on Mahogany Street.

But Ramirez became suspicious when he arrived at the designated meeting place and feared that his life was in danger, so he contacted the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, who contacted the DPP. This led to a three-way conversation by phone between Ramirez, Williams and the DPP. Ramirez handed over the phone, but said he was not going to testify because he feared for his life.

At the trial, the DPP made an application to the court for Ramirez’ statement to be admitted as evidence, and Justice Pilgrim allowed its admittance. This was a crucial blow for Selgado, who later testified that he didn’t know Ramirez and that he had never met him or had any interaction with him. But Justice Pilgrim found out that Selgado was not being truthful, because there were certain pieces of information in Ramirez’ statement that he only could have gotten from Selgado.

In another twist, the video and audio recording that Ramirez had handed over to police, turned up missing, but Justice Pilgrim allowed testimonies from Commissioner Williams and the arresting officer, Wilfredo Ferrofino, who both testified that they had listened to the audio recording, and that they recognized Selgado’s voice telling Ramirez to kill Barnes.

After putting all of the evidence together, Justice Pilgrim said that he was certain of Selgado’s guilt, and he convicted Selgado.