Murder Trial of Vincent Tillett wraps up in court

Vincent Tillett

On Monday in the Supreme Court, Justice Adolph Lucas wrapped up a trial on a charge of murder for forty-nine year old taxi driver Vincent Tillett. On November twelfth, Justice Lucas will give his ruling in the case, which is being heard without a jury. Tillett is accused of stabbing to death twenty-three year old Darwin Philips at his Antelope Street Extension home on February thirteenth, 2011. Tillett is alleged to have retrieved a knife from the kitchen of the home he shared with his common-law wife, Denise Stuart. With it, he allegedly stabbed Phillips once in the chest. Crown Counsel Kayshia Grant called eyewitnesses Angela Hyde and Oran Young to testify, but had to treat them as hostile witnesses when they refused to testify in accordance with what they had previously told police in their official statements. Both statements were admitted, including one from Tillett in which he told police that he stabbed Phillips because he wanted to kill him. Both witness statements and Tillett’s alleged confession were recorded by investigating officer, Sergeant Alma Mortis. Tillett testified and told Justice Lucas that he was in Sand Hill, not Belize City, when the incident allegedly occurred.