Prosecution Calls Three Witnesses Today In Selgado Trial
Oscar Selgado
The abetment to commit murder trial of attorney, Oscar Selgado resumed today before High Court Judge, Nigel Pilgrim. Selgado arrived early and walked in the courtroom, as he normally does. The prosecution in his case called three witnesses today, including the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, and former Inspector of Police, Wilfredo Ferrufino. Ferrufino’s testimony was crucial in that he was the investigating officer who took the statement from Geovannie Ramirez, the man who claimed Selgado was trying to hire him to murder Marilyn Barnes. Barnes had reported Selgado to the General Legal Counsel for unethical behaviour, but the allegation against Selgado did not surface until Geovannie Ramirez made a report to the police that Selgado had tried to hire him to murder Barnes when he, Ramirez, sought Selgado’s legal assistance on a firearm offense charge. Ramirez had purportedly made recordings of the conversations between him and Selgado and he took them to the police. Today, Ferrufino told the court that he received a package with some audio recordings and when he listened to them, he recognized two voices. One was that of the defendant, Selgado, who he quoted at one point as saying, “I want Marilyn Barnes Dead,”. Ferrufino went on to describe how Selgado made reference to Barnes and that he indicated in the recording to Ramirez that the murder had to occur before the month ended. Under cross-examination, Ferrufino said that he made three statements and it was in the third statement that he mentioned that he had heard the audio recordings from Ramirez. The D.P.P. raised an argument that the defense was asking questions to suggest that Ferrufino was prompted to make the insertion into his statement. The first witness that the D.P.P. called was the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams. He also said that he had heard the recordings and also identified one of the voices as Selgado. Williams said that he knew Selgado’s voice from long before he went to law school and that he had communicated with Selgado on previous occasions when he was the Officer Commanding the south side of Belize City. During the day’s proceedings, the defense attorney, Adolph Lucas Senior raised objection over a technicality. He said that while Williams said he had received the clips from Ramirez, he did not see that mentioned anywhere in Williams’ statement. But the judge ruled that what was being brought out today in court was evidence that was already brought up in the Voir Dire conducted in the latter part of 2023. The third witness called was Magistrate Trecia Pitts-Robinson, who Selgado appeared before on his arraignment on June ninth, 2020. Pitts-Robinson also presided over the preliminary inquiry into the matter and forwarded to the High Court for trial. After his testimony today, we spoke with Commissioner Williams about the recordings which went missing before they reached the courtroom.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“The recording did not go missing from the police, and I leave it at that.
Reporter
“Did you say that you only shared what you recalled from the recording because you can’t recall everything?”
Chester Williams
“Yes, I did say that, yes.”
Reporter
“Should there have been a transcript?”
Chester Williams
“I would not be the one to do the transcript. The transcript would have been done by the investigator.”
Reporter
“But one would be required as part of the whole investigation?”
Chester Williams
“The statement that the investigator recorded from the witness would contain a transcript.”
