Photo: Darrell Grant, sentenced

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Apr. 18, 2024

He was convicted of the brutal and savage murder of a well-known, upstanding member of the community she lived in, as Sandra Ruiz was sexually assaulted then hammered to death inside her home in the Kings Park area during a home invasion.

She left 2 young daughters, being ages 6 and 13. They were traumatized, as the oldest daughter was the one who ran out of the home during the invasion, after seeing a man had broken into their home.

While Ruiz was senselessly killed, her 6-year-old daughter was also attacked by Grant and was left in a coma for 10 days before recovering from her injuries.

And today, at his re-sentencing, Darrell Grant, then 22, now 37, who was convicted of that murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, was today handed down a fixed life sentence of 30 years without the possibility of parole until after serving 30 years imprisonment, explained Justice Nigel Pilgrim.

In reaching his fixed term of 30 years, Justice Pilgrim looked at a number of factors, including the aggravating and mitigating factors of Grant’s case.

In doing so, he had to regurgitate the pertinent evidence of the Crown’s case that had led to the conviction of Grant.

In that case, the evidence showed that Grant on Sunday, August 10, 2008, broke into Ruiz’s home and beat her to death with a hammer during a burglary.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the sitting judge; and on June 28, 2013, the judges of the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction.

But in law, any person convicted of murder and who is serving a life sentence is to be taken to the High Court for a fixed sentence to be given for them to serve before being eligible for parole, and that’s just what Grant got today, 15 years later, unfortunately for him.

Some of the aggravating factors Justice Pilgrim highlighted were: that at the appeal of Grant’s case, the opinion of the judges of the Court of Appeal was that regarding the evidence before the court, a reasonable jury could have been able to reach the conclusion that Grant had intent to kill Ruiz by the use of a hammer to the head; the fact that he entered the home of Ruiz, where a person’s home is her castle; he was armed with a weapon, that being a hammer, and he attacked her by hitting her in the head, a murder which he described to be a brutal and savage act; he said that murder is a serious and prevalence offense in Belize that needs to be deterred.

Justice Pilgrim also read out in court several of the victim’s impact statements, one coming from her then 13-year-old daughter,

The daughter told the court that her mother was her bred-winner, and even after 15 years she can still recall the smell of the iron from her mother’s blood, after they had to clean up the blood left behind by the intruder who killed their mother. She said to have to think of what was her mother’s last words made them unable to forget that day.

The daughter further said that during the days after her mother’s murder, she was left in shock, as she was only 13 at the time.

“All because of jewelry, I was robbed of my mother, of my sense of safety, robbed of trust in those around me …”

Ruiz’s daughter also told the court in her victim impact statement that she fears, she even felt that the same thing could happen to her, like her mother. Because of that fear, she said they had to relocate, and so they left their house and went to live with their father. Having to leave her country, that made her separate from her grandparents, friends, family, and even her pet she had to leave behind. All she now had left is pain in her heart, but nothing against Grant, her mother’s killer.

And while she has nothing against Grant, her mother’s killer, she said that there is not a moment that she has not thought about Grant’s action, that she frequently thinks of taking her life, as she misses her mother every minute of every day.

A brother of Ruiz also said in his statement, “With all the time this person gets in jail, I cannot get back my sister …”

Justice Pilgrim noted that he found no mitigating factors in the trial of Grant, as the case of Grant is not one where the prisoner pleaded guilty for his action; instead, he contested the charge of murder, claiming the police adduced him to give the statement against himself.

Justice Pilgrim also found that Grant at the age of 22 was a mature young man; and Dr. Matus, who did an evaluation on him, said he was sane and fit for trial.

And after considering all the above aggravating and mitigating factors, Justice Pilgrim’s starting point for Grant’s fixed term was 33 years. For all the aggravating factors he added 1 year, bringing the term to 34 years; and then he deducted 3 years for the mitigating factors he found that went in favor of Grant: for the rehabilitation programs he participated in whilst at prison in 2017 when he became a carpenter as a result of that program during his incarceration; his good Social Inquiry Report which said that Grant was described as being a hard-working man; he was missed by his family, of which he has robbed himself of being with them when he committed the murder, hence why he deducted 3 years from the 34 years, leaving him with 31 years, and another 1 year deducted for the strong family support he noted he has. However, he said that Grant must pay a reasonable cost for his action, and so that left him with 30 years behind bars which is to take effect from August 12, 2008.

It was on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 that a unanimous verdict of guilty for murder against Grant was read in the courtroom of Justice Adolph Lucas, Sr.

The 12-person jury back then consisted of 8 women and 4 men. The jury found him guilty of the murder after hearing almost 3 hours of the summary of the evidence—inclusive of comments by Justice Lucas, as well as the witness statements and the summations of the prosecution, represented by senior crown counsel Yohhanhseh Cave, and of Grant’s court-appointed defense lawyer, Richard “Dickie” Bradley—then they retired into deliberations at 11:46 a.m., and returned at 4:03 p.m. with a guilty verdict for murder.

Of interest to note is that when Grant was arrested for Ruiz’s murder, two days later he was found wearing her chain.

Note, inside the courtroom were two of Ruiz’s relatives, one of them was her eldest brother and the other, a younger sibling.

Outside the courtroom, the oldest brother, Miguel Ruiz spoke to us with tears in his eyes, about how he wants the community to remember his sister, Sandra Ruiz.