Posted: Friday, December 15, 2023. 7:44 pm CST.
By Aaron Humes: “People might think I enjoy this job but I hate this part…Two young vibrant men who I have to send to jail.”
So lamented Justice Ricardo O’Neil Sandcroft in the High Court today as he sentenced Eric Miranda and Jeffery Contreras, who were found guilty of the murder of businessman Sean Menzies in November 2018 to life imprisonment with a minimum 30-year term before the possibility of parole.
But the judge also said he must strike a balance because a life has been lost: “Sean Menzies, the victim will never [come] back again,” Judge Sandcroft added.
With three years on remand deducted, they will have to spend 27 more years behind bars at least for murder.
The sensational murder trial was one that saw many hurdles, obstacles and barriers for the Crown, represented by Crown Counsel Riis Cattouse, who lost his main witness, Ivan Jones, after testifying. He disappeared and was later found buried in a shallow grave in the Biscayne area on the Phillip Goldson Highway.
In mitigation each of the convicts addressed the court. Miranda said, “I have changed my life. I am now a Christian. I completed High School and got my Diploma in prison and I graduate top of my class.” He added that he is now a changed man and that he is sorry that this happened to him because in his view, he followed bad company and ended up down this bad path.
Contreras had little to say except that he is sorry and apologizes to the family of the deceased.
Menzies, a Manager at Bowen & Bowen Limited, was executed outside his home on his verandah on Lancaster Street, Belize City on November 18, 2018 some time after 7:00 p.m.
Iran Jones in his testimony had told the court that he saw the two fleeing suspects, Miranda and Contreras, where one of them was seen handing back what appeared to be a gun to the other before running off from the scene of the murder.
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The post Jeffery Contreras and Eric Miranda given 30 years to life for the murder of Sean Menzies appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Friday, December 15, 2023. 7:44 pm CST. By Aaron Humes: “People might think I enjoy this job but I hate this part…Two young vibrant men
The post Jeffery Contreras and Eric Miranda given 30 years to life for the murder of Sean Menzies appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.