Photo: Rodman Welch, guilty of murder
by Roy Davis (freelance reporter)
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Jan. 25, 2024
Rodman Welch, 37, a stevedore who was charged with the murder of Shakeem Philip Dennison, was found guilty of the charge in a judgement that was handed down today by Justice Nigel Pilgrim.
The case was adjourned until March 26 for Welch, a father of four, to submit a plea for mitigation.
Dennison was shot and killed at about 5:00 p.m. on October 12, 2020, while he was on Yabra Basketball Court, located next to Yabra Football Field. His assailant rode up behind him on a motorcycle and shot him twice in the back of his head. The Crown, represented by Crown Counsel Riis Cattouse, used 15 witnesses, 10 of them agreed witnesses, to prove the case for the Crown. One of the agreed witnesses, Rupert Lopez, said in his statement, which was read in court, that the person who was at the Chinese shop near to the basketball court was Welch. But he couldn’t tell if the shooter on the motorcycle was Welch because the shooter wore a mask.
Welch gave a caution statement to the police in which he said that he was shot twice, first in 2012 and second in 2019, and he did the same thing to the person who shot him, and that it was a case of self defence. He said that he was shot in his hand in 2012, and in 2019 he was shot in his face while he was working as a security guard at Excelsior High School. A voire dire was held to determine the admissibility of the statement, and during it Welch testified that the police threatened him to give the statement. He said that the police told him that his children would go missing if he did not give the statement. However, at end of the voire dire, Justice Pilgrim ruled that the statement was admissible because he believed that Welch gave the statement voluntarily.
After the Crown closed its case, Welch’s attorneys Orson “OJ” Elrington and his father, Senior Counsel Hubert Elrington made a “no case submission”, but it was overruled by Justice Pilgrim.
Welch testified and denied that he committed the offence. He said that he was at home with his wife when the incident occurred. He was shown several videos of the motorcycle used in the murder, and he admitted that the motorcycle resembled his, but said it was not his.