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Photo: Jared Ranguy sentenced
Convicted murderer Jared Ranguy, 37, was sentenced to three life sentences for killing his mother, stepfather and sister in 2012. He will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years.
Charles Gladden and Roy Davis (freelance writers)
Belize City, Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Twelve years ago, Jared Ranguy, 37, who committed the brutal triple murder in Ladyville of 75-year-old Robert Vellos, his wife, 48-year-old Karen Vellos, and their daughter, 32-year-old Teena Beth Skeen, was tried in the Supreme Court today, Tuesday, July 16, and sentenced to three life terms.
“We are thrilled, relieved and grateful that this long journey is finally over and justice has been served,” said Krystal Holder Skeen, a spokeswoman for the Skeen and Vellos families. “We are devastated by the loss of our loved ones. It hits us hard because we are such a close family; so it’s shocking; it’s truly tragic. We have been coming to these court sessions for 12 years and I have family behind me who have been at every session. So, we are relieved. However, the verdict does not take away the pain in our hearts, which will probably be with us for the rest of our lives. We feel the loss of Aunt Karen, Teena and Mr. Robert every day and we miss them terribly; but we are grateful for this closure,” Holder added.
On March 15 this year, Ranguy finally pleaded guilty to three counts of murder. Today, Judge Nigel Pilgrim sentenced Ranguy to three life sentences and stipulated that these sentences will run concurrently, meaning Ranguy only needs to serve one life sentence. Judge Pilgrim also stipulated that Ranguy must serve 37 years from November 27, 2012 before he is eligible for parole. As Ranguy has already served 12 years of his sentence while on remand, he must serve 25 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
“We tried to convince the judge to impose a fixed term sentence rather than life imprisonment. Life imprisonment means you have to serve a minimum number of years before you are eligible for parole; but you are only eligible for parole after serving a certain number of years, which is determined by the parole board. We prefer a fixed term sentence, which means the sentence is fixed and after serving a certain amount of time, you can go free,” explained Ranguy’s lawyer Godfrey Smith.
Before sentencing, Smith asked the court to consider the possibility that Langi may have been sleepwalking at the time of the offences and whether there was any literature to support this, and asked the court to take these factors into account when reaching an appropriate sentence. However, the court did not agree with this view.
“One of the main sources we relied on was forensic psychiatric reports from a British forensic psychiatrist and sleep expert. Unfortunately, those reports were inconclusive without hooking Mr Ranguy up to a sleep machine, and a sleep study machine in prison… the cost was too high. We couldn’t go that far, so all the experts could say was ‘non-REM sleep disorder’ – in plain language, sleepwalking could not be ruled out; what they had observed and what they had gathered from Mr Ranguy was consistent with that, but without corroboration from others, they could not conclude. The judge considered that carefully and found that he was not prepared to accept it without corroboration,” Smith said.
The triple murder reportedly took place at the Vellos’ home on Malachi Road in Ladyville around 3 a.m. on Nov. 25, 2012. The murders followed an argument between Ranguy and Robert Vellos when Ranguy demanded the money that Vellos had won that day at the casino.
Soon after, gunshots were heard in the area and when police arrived at the house, they saw Langi screaming with a machete in his hand. They then searched the attic of the house and found a black bag containing a 9mm pistol and a round of ammunition, a knife with an orange handle and a pair of black pants – all covered in blood.
Evidence showed that Lange entered his mother and stepfather’s room and shot his stepfather, Robert Willows, twice, killing him. He then went to where his mother, Abidale Skene, was sleeping and stabbed her 23 times, including eight times in the neck. He then shot and killed his sister, Tina Skene.
In an interview with the media, Smith stressed that his client did not need to apologize to the victims’ families, but he apologized in an affidavit, which was accepted by the judge. However, Holder told the media that it would be more effective if he apologized directly to the victims’ families.
“I think it would have been better if he would have spoken to us and apologized. I think it would have meant more. We are grateful that he pleaded guilty and today is our last day here and it’s all over… We hope to have peace and we hope today our family can finally sleep peacefully,” she said.
In the decade since Ranguy first appeared in court, he has changed lawyers several times. Prior to senior attorney Godfrey Smith, a total of about five lawyers represented Ranguy during his trial, including senior attorneys Simeon Sampson, Leslie Mendez and Hector Guerra; at one point, he even wanted to represent himself in court, which is not allowed in murder cases.
The royal family is represented by royal counsel Riis Cattouse.
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