Witnesses cross-examined in murder trail
The trial of Patrick Robateau and Leslie Pipersburg resumed this afternoon in courtroom number two before Justice Troadio Gonzalez. The duo is accused of robbing the Bowen and Bowen distribution centre on Slaughterhouse Road on the night of June eighteenth, 2002, and murdering four people in the process. When the trial continued, K.B.H. security guard Carl Ventura returned to the witness stand for cross-examination. Although Ventura previously identified Robateau as the triggerman who shot him and the other security guard, Kevin Alvarez, Defence Counsel Linsbert Willis suggested that Ventura could not see who shot Alvarez because at the time Ventura was struggling on the ground with Pipersburg. Willis further suggested that Ventura could not identify the shooter because the warehouse where the shooting took place was dark. Ventura disagreed with both suggestions, saying he knew who shot him and Alvarez and that lights from the office illuminated the scene. Willis went on to point out several alleged inconsistencies in statements Ventura gave to police shortly after the incident and testimony he gave under oath on Monday. Ventura at one point said that parts of the signed statement taken at the time were not what he told police. He also said that he recalled making certain statements that are not recorded on the form he signed. Willis suggested to Ventura that his testimony on Monday was based largely on a visit to the crime scene some time after the incident. Ventura disagreed. Also, Ventura testified that while he wrestled with Pipersburg, he heard Pipersburg tell Robateau to shoot him. Willis suggested there was no conversation and pointed out that nowhere in statements to the police was there any mention of a conversation and that the first mention of the alleged conversation was on Monday.
After a brief recess, Justice Gonzales returned to the bench with a stern warning that the accused are not to have any contact with relatives or the public while in the courtroom. Pipersburg was caught talking with relatives in the courtroom during the recess and the prosecution objected. The second witness to take the stand was another K.B.H. security guard, John Ventura, Carl’s brother. Responding to questioning from Prosecutor Marjorie Moytson, Ventura testified that he saw Robateau exit a coke truck parked at the side of the office and go towards the office on the night of the incident. Although he was stationed at the rear gate, Ventura said he observed Pipersburg walk towards the main gate and then saw him in a struggle with a security guard named Vivirgilio Requeña.
Ventura, who at the time of the incident had been posted at the distribution centre for eight months, said he was going towards the struggle with his twelve gauge shot gun in his hand. He said he did not fire the weapon because he would have hit both Pipersburg and Requeña if he had done so. While approaching, Ventura said he felt something on his left side. When he turned around he saw Robateau behind him. Asked how he knew it was Robateau, Ventura said he recognized the accused because the two of them worked together in the Belize Defence Force and were deployed together for six months at Fairweather Camp in Toledo. Ventura said Robateau told him to drop his gun, which he refused to do. Instead he said he ran toward the gate of the Bowen and Bowen compound facing North Front Street. He said that as he ran he dropped his gun and radio and proceeded to jump the fence and make his way onto Mapp Street where he flagged down a vehicle and asked to be taken to Queen Street police station. When he got there he reported what had happened and accompanied the police in their vehicle to the crime scene. When he got back, Ventura said he saw a K.B.H. jeep parked beside the office and a security guard was on the ground on the driver’s side. After being asked to give a general description of Robateau, Ventura pointed him out in the courtroom. During the course of the afternoon, Robateau and Pipersburg often stared straight ahead, and at times joked with each other. The case continues at nine-thirty on Wednesday morning.
