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Double murder, murder and manslaughter cases scheduled to be heard in October session of Supreme Court

CrimeDouble murder, murder and manslaughter cases scheduled to be heard in October session of Supreme Court
A total of 39 cases are tentatively scheduled to be heard in the October session of the opening of the Supreme Court, which was held today at around 9:00 a.m.
 
The two major criminal courts are Court #2, where Justice John “Troadio” Gonzalez presides, and Court #3, where Justice Adolph Lucas presides. They begin hearing cases this week.
 
The cases include the 2006 Mother’s Day massacre of the Brannon brothers, Kevin and Phillip Brannon, who were both killed on May 14, 2006, after they were heading home from a concert held at the Civic Center.
 
Standing trial for this crime are Taejron Bennett and Joseph Kee, a businessman. The case has been set to be tried in front of Justice Gonzalez on November 12. Both men are being represented by attorney Ellis Arnold.
 
Another double murder that occurred in early 2006 is that of two Guatemalan sisters, Rose Blanca and her younger sister, who were murdered after being attacked inside their home.
 
The man who is alleged to have committing the gruesome act is Ryan Horne, a resident of a Dean Street address who is said to be a mental patient.
 
Another sensational murder that occurred earlier this year is that of Takeisha Sutherland, a mother and ex-girlfriend of Louie Gentle, known to many as “Ganzie,” a Rastafarian singer.
 
No date was set for Ganzie’s case to begin in this session because when he appeared in court today, he was undefended. His plea of not guilty was taken, however. Justice Gonzalez informed the court that they would be appointing an attorney through the Legal Aid system to represent Ganzie.
 
Also, there is the sensational case of Chayben Abou-Nehra, of Mirab & Co., who, in September 2005, was charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of Shawn Copious, 24, a resident of Armadillo Street.
 
Other cases to be heard in the two major criminal courts are that of ex-tourism police officer, Charles Grant, charged with attempted murder, harm, deadly means of harm, aggravated assault, grievous harm and wounding, which resulted from a shooting incident on Baghdad Street in early 2006 where a police officer was shot and his ex-common-law wife and his ex-step-daughter, 18, were injured.
 
Other cases to be heard include those of Nelson Velasquez, Luis Castellanos, Mark Gentle Trapp and Reymundo Vasquez, of the Cayo area, all charged with kidnapping; robbery, aggravated burglary; wounding, harm and theft.
 
The case of Aaron Paguil was today remitted to the Belize Magistrate’s Court. He was initially charged with aggravated assault and abetment to commit murder. Gilbert Martinez was charged with maim; Lionel Neal was charged with murder, attempted robbery and dangerous harm; David Sosa was charged with arson; Harrison Smith, with murder; Eric McCleary, with attempted arson; Alex Bautista and Andrew Carrillo, with murder and arson; Delita Chavez, with dangerous harm and use of deadly means of harm; and Kenroy Humes was charged with murder.
 
These cases will be heard in Court #2 in front Justice Gonzalez, including that of Alexander Lopez, charged with attempted murder or the alternative charge of use of deadly means of harm with the intent to cause dangerous harm. These charges came as a result in the death of Danny Castellanos, which occurred on May 29, 2005 in Sandhill.
 
The second case scheduled to begin this week in Court #2 is that of Trevor Matthews, charged with manslaughter by negligence or the alternative charge of causing death by careless conduct, in a road traffic accident that took the life of Rashida Young. The incident occurred on November 11, 2006.
 
Other cases listed to be heard downstairs in front of Justice Adolph Lucas, apart from that of Ben Abou-Nehra, include the case of two brothers, Emory And Maurice Felix, charged with murder; Phillip Rowland, rape; Rode Aguilar, manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct and driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention; Dwayne Almendarez, charged with attempted murder, use of deadly means of harm, aggravated assault, harm and conspiracy to commit murder; Shane Links Vargas, carnal knowledge of a girl and grievous harm; Wilfred Gillett and Beverly Brown Simpson, carnal knowledge of a girl and grievous harm; Maurice Chiac, murder and conspiracy to commit murder; Callum Sutherland and Alfred Conorquie, murder; Noel Herrera, unlawful carnal knowledge; George Matthews, kidnapping, unnatural crime, abduction and using threatening words; Jamille Betancourt, attempted murder, aggravated assault, damage to property and use of deadly means of harm.
 
In the last court session, Betancourt had walked out of the court a free man when the prosecution entered a nolle prosequi against him because the main witness in the case, Alpheus “Junebird” Smith, had recently been shot and killed, and the prosecutor was unable, at that time, to locate his other witnesses. It appears now that he has located the witnesses, and therefore, the charges were brought again against Betancourt.
 
Keith Budd is on trial for manslaughter by negligence, and Julio Che for murder.
 
The case of Ryan Ramirez is the only one in which a nolle prosequi was entered, and he was freed. Ramirez had been charged with unlawful carnal knowledge.
 
The October session of the Supreme Court runs until January, 2008.

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