_{Photo: Jared Ranguy}

by Roy Davis (freelance reporter)

BELIZE CITY, Fri. June 28, 2024

At the sentence hearing today of Jared Ranguy, 38, who pleaded guilty to 3 counts of murder in March of this year, Justice Nigel Pilgrim set July 15 as the date when he will deliver his sentence.

This was after he heard submissions from the defence, represented by Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith, and Crown Counsel Riis Cattouse, who represented the Crown.

Ranguy’s conviction are for the murders of his mother, Karen Skeen Vellos, 51; his sister, Teena Skeen Vellos, 32; and his step-father, Robert Vellos, Sr., 72.

The incident occurred on November 24, 2012, at the victims’ family home in Ladyville, where Ranguy also resided.

When the police arrived at the house they searched the attic and found a 9-millimeter pistol, which they believed was the murder weapon, and some clothes with blood on them.

Ranguy told police that it was an accident and he was sleep walking.

Senior Counsel Smith, in his submissions at the sentence hearing, said that there are no mitigating factors, except that Ranguy was 26 years old at the time and several character witnesses from different parts of Belize spoke well on his behalf.

Smith said the case is exceptional, bizzare by nature, and he urged the court to examine the strangeness of the offences in relation to Ranguy’s claim that he was sleep walking and he did not know that he had committed the offences.

Smith suggested that the starting point for the sentence should be 35 years and that the final term of imprisonment should be 37 years.

Crown Counsel Riis Cattouse, who represented the Crown, submitted that there are no mitigating circumstances that warrant a fixed sentence, and that the sentence should be life imprisonment.

He said the offences were carried out in the sanctity of the victims’ home while they were asleep and were vulnerable.

Cattouse also submitted that Ranguy attempted to hide the murder weapon, and tried to mislead the police into believing that the perpetrator was someone else.

He said that infractions Ranguy committed while he was in prison were not minor, and that he had made death threats on other inmates.

Cattouse further submitted that a guilty plea does not entitle Ranguy to sentence discount, because the guilty plea was made at a late stage.

Apart from Senior Counsel Smith, Ranguy was represented by Senior Counsel Simeon Sampson.