After spending 3 years in prison, man acquitted of murder charge

Walter Beaton

A Belize City man, who has already spent almost three years in prison, is tonight a free man. The jury of twelve retired to the deliberating room shortly after midday to decide the fate of thirty-eight year old Walter Beaton, who was accused of fatally stabbing Leroy “Red ants” Rhaburn on August twenty-second, 2009. Just before four o’clock this afternoon, the jury emerged with a verdict of not guilty for the charge of murder as well as the alternative, manslaughter. The jury believed that Beaton acted in self-defense after being threatened and hit with a pint bottle during an altercation with Rhaburn at the corner of Orange Street and Euphrates Avenue.  Rhaburn was stabbed once on the left side of the neck and died soon after. But both the jury and Justice Adolph Lucas were satisfied that Beaton’s actions were in self-defense and in fear for his life, which resulted in the acquittal.