Darbin Romero, sentenced
BELIZE CITY, Fri. Feb. 21, 2025
While one man walked free from a San Pedro murder, another man of Belize City who pleaded guilty to murder, sparing the Crown a trial, was today sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole until after he has served 20 years in prison.
He is 24-year-old Darbin Joel Romero, a resident of a Sibun Street address in Belize City.
Romero, who was represented in the matter by attorney Peta Gay Bradley of Legal Aid, had entered a guilty plea for murder on December 17, 2024, and sentencing was deferred until today by Justice Nigel Pilgrim.
This morning, Justice Pilgrim issued a life sentence upon Romero.
The starting point for the sentence was 25 years, but due to the aggravating factors, including the fact that Romero is a repeat offender, Justice Pilgrim increased his sentence by two years, which resulted in a sentence of 27 years.
The mitigating factors for Romero were also taken into consideration—those being statements about his good character, the remorse he showed for his actions, and the assessment that he has a good prospect for rehabilitation, and so Justice Pilgrim deducted five (5) years from the 27 years, which led to a sentence of 22 years.
His last deduction for his guilty plea was 2 years from the 22 years, which resulted in a final prison term for Romero of 20 years.
Justice Pilgrim ordered that Romero ‘s sentence take effect from April 12, 2022, when he was remanded to the Belize Central Prison for the murder.
On April 9, 2022, sometime around 6:30 p.m. while on mobile patrol, police officers heard two loud bangs coming from the direction of Jones Street.
When the officers looked in the direction from which the sounds came, they saw Mark Lord, Jr. (the deceased) running in the middle of Jones Street and headed in their direction.
Police also noticed that Mark Lord, Jr. was being pursued by the accused, Darbin Romero, who was armed with a firearm and firing shots at Lord, Jr.
Police say that at that time, only Lord, Jr. and Romero, the accused, were on the street.
According to police, Romero was dressed in a red/black and white striped shirt and a grey 3/4 pants.
The officer said he then saw Lord, Jr. fall face-down on the pavement, and that while lying there, Romero went over the deceased’s body and fired another shot into his body.
According to police, Romero then ran into an unfenced yard, and seconds later, he was seen running onto Diego Street (a street parallel to Jones Street) in the company of Jihadur Gill.
At this time, Romero was dressed differently, as he was now wearing a black T-shirt. That’s when police shouted at him, “Freeze! Police!”
According to police, that’s when Romero stooped behind a grey car that was parked in front of Jihadur Gill’s yard, and police then saw him throw a bulky cloth into a yard over a 6-foot high fence.
According to police, both Gill and Romero surrendered themselves to police.
Near the yard where the men were detained, police found on top of a zinc roof, the firearm that was forensically determined to be the gun used to kill Lord, Jr.
Police say the firearm was wrapped in a red, black and white striped shirt similar to the shirt that the accused Romero was seen wearing seconds earlier when he was chasing the deceased (Mark Lord, Jr.) with the firearm.
Police say that Mark Lord, Jr. sustained five gunshot wounds to the back portion of his body, and a 6th gunshot injury to the left side of his head.
A doctor described the gunshot wounds to the head and the left lumbar region as “rapidly fatal.”
Police say Romero gave an interview under caution to the police, in which he denied any involvement in the killing of Lord, Jr.
On March 22, 2022, there was a physical altercation between Lord, Jr.’s father, Mark Lord, Sr., and Jihadur Gill’s father, Cecil Gill.
Lord saw the physical altercation and intervened to defend his father and knocked out Cecil Gill. This is believed to have been the reason for the shooting of Lord, Jr.: retaliation for what the deceased, Mark Lord, Jr. did to Cecil Gill.
Mark Lord, Jr. was 21 when he was killed, and would have been 24 years old today.