Last night, our headline story was the guilty verdict that Justice Antoinette Moore handed to William Danny Mason, and his 4 workers, Ashton Vanegas, Keiron Fernandez, Terrence Fernandez, and Ernest Castillo. The judge has convicted all 5 defendants of the 2016 beheading murder of Pastor Lewellyn Lucas. At a date to be announced, she will hand each of them a sentence for the guilty verdict.
Back in July 2016, when Pastor Lue's killing became national headlines, and Mason was first charged, details started emerging about just how politically connected he was. Some of the big-name personalities from both the Barrow Government and the Opposition had crossed paths with Mason. He wasn't just friendly, he had money, and, reports say, he wasn't afraid to lavish it on his political friends - in the name of campaign financing. More than that, Mason was a skilled cook, and the dinner parties and cookouts at his home for police and politicians are the stuff of dark legend.
But, it all blew up into a mess of murder tainted with no small amount of political scandal when Mason was criminally charged. Now that he's convicted, tonight, we take a closer look at the last 3 years of his very public life. Daniel Ortiz has that story:
Now that William Danny Mason has been convicted of murder, the once ascendant arc of his trajectory in Belize has flatlined. He was once a well-connected political insider with wide police influence. But now, Mason has gone from famous to infamous as the convicted criminal mastermind behind one of the most heinous murders ever reported.
He has gone from living in a luxurious hilltop mansion to a tiny cell at the Belize Central Prison's, from big-time to jail time of an indeterminate duration.
File: December 4th, 2019
Louis Wade - Leader, #IWantMyCountryBack
"I think it speaks well for the justice system within our country that a person who had a very high profile in the political circles, as well as in the business community was able to hear 'guilty'. There are people like Mason who believe that the policing system and the investigating system are weak and that they can get away with murder, literally. And I think today, the people who work on the side of justice can hold their head up high. So, on behalf of the IWantMyCountryBack movement, we want to say thank you to the hundreds of people that have worked very hard."
Like most prisoners, he may not be heard from for a very long time but we know that he has a lot to say. He may get the chance to do that at his sentencing. But, up until the time of the guilty verdict from Justice Antoinette Moore, his defense has remained consistent. That defense is that he is innocent and that he is being framed for a crime he didn't commit.
File: August 11th, 2016
William Mason - Speaking from Prison
"I stopped by the bar, and the police came and started hassling everybody. I was sitting down, and I couldn't see anything. I got up and asked, 'What seems to be the issue?' I didn't understand anything, the point where they wanted to search my car. I asked them if they had a search warrant, and they said, 'We want to search your car.' I go, wow, wow, wow, it seems like I'm targeted here for something.' When I went back to [get] my keys, my keys weren't on the table. Someone took my keys, and there were a lot of people at the bar. The whole place was packed with a lot of cars. A lot of SPU's, a lot of police, a lot of people came in... I didn't have a clue about what was going on, me and my guys."
Renee Trujillo - Love News
"So, were you present when they claimed that they found that bucket [with the head] in your vehicle? Were you around when they searched your vehicle?"
William Mason
"I was very distant from that area."
And though he claims innocence, Justice Antoinette Moore rejected his story. Based on the evidence, she found that he oversaw the kidnapping of Pastor Lucas and his 2 companions on the day of his murder. The bucket with Pastor Lue's head was found fastened to the back of his pickup truck, something not quickly or easily done, which contradicts his suggestion that someone else suddenly planted it in the back of the truck. Also, the evidence from the prosecution is that he made several failed moves to try and get police to quickly stop searching his vehicle presumably before they found Pastor Lue's head.
Now, Mason has become the first person of means to be convicted for such a crime in memory. The mystery of his connections and of his alleged con-game in Belize may never be fully known, but this Guyanese Rajesh Ouellet, turned Canadian Ted Oulette, turned Belizean Danny Mason, reached heights of influence and association in Belize - heights that may have made him think he was untouchable. That he was not is perhaps the biggest surprise of this verdict.
We'll have more on the Mason trial and the aftermath tomorrow.
Email
Print