Clive Geban and Roberto Rodriguez, teenagers at the time, chopped and stabbed a Maskall villager, 61, to death in his room

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Jan. 21, 2019– Two men who have been on remand for the murder of Maskall villager Ervin Morales, 61, appeared in the Supreme Court of Justice Colin Williams today for sentencing after they pleaded guilty last month to the lesser charge of manslaughter, but they will have to be brought back to court on February 1 for sentencing.

Six years ago, when Clive Geban was charged with Morales’ murder, he was a 19-year-old teenager and his accomplice, Roberto Rodriguez, was so young his name could not be mentioned in the news because he was a 14-year-old minor.

Geban’s attorney, Kathleen Lewis, told the court this morning that her client was remorseful for what had happened, and that he is asking the court to show mercy on him, because since the incident, he has changed his life.

During the hearing, it was revealed that Geban, who was a resident of Maskall Village, has one previous conviction for theft which he had appealed shortly before Morales’s murder.

Rodriguez, who is being defended by attorney Leroy Banner, was the one who gave police a detailed statement about what transpired at Morales’ house on the day of the murder, when he was a standard 6 student.

Justice Williams told the court that he had one outstanding question, and that was if the two convicts should be “tied together” for sentencing.

Crown Counsel Janelle Tillett-Shorter told the court that they should be.

Earlier, Shorter told the court that the murder was particularly brutal because the deceased man was stabbed a total of 19 times with a knife and machete. In addition, he had been chopped in the head, neck and back.

Banner, however, disagreed with Shorter, saying that his client was a minor when the murder occurred.

With that said, Justice Williams decided that he would give a written decision on February 1.

The two convicts had gone to rob Morales, but when they arrived at his house on the morning of January 21, 2013, he was not at home.

The two then hid under his bed and waited until he arrived back in his house and as soon as he was inside, they sprang into action, attacking him with a machete and knife.

When they left, Morales was dead and his body was wrapped in a sheet and the blood cleaned up.