In a significant judicial ruling on March 20, 2026, Belize High Court Justice Pilgrim denied a defense motion to dismiss murder charges against Shaquile Perera, ensuring the controversial Christmas Eve homicide case will proceed to full trial. The defendant stands accused of the fatal shooting of Darnell Puerto and the attempted murder of Jehvon Ramclam during a December 24, 2023 incident at a Belize City residence.
The defense team, led by attorney Joanne Zuniga-Stuart, mounted a multifaceted challenge to the prosecution’s case. They highlighted apparent inconsistencies in Ramclam’s testimony regarding his initial observation of the shooter, potential witness bias stemming from Ramclam’s prior acquaintance with Perera through a previous incident involving his brother, and alleged contradictions between the witness account and available medical and ballistic evidence concerning the shooter’s positioning.
Justice Pilgrim’s ruling emphasized that Ramclam’s identification—made at close range under adequate lighting conditions during a 25-30 second encounter with someone he previously knew—constituted legally sufficient evidence to support a potential conviction if deemed credible by the court. The judge determined that questions regarding witness reliability properly belong to the ultimate fact-finding process of the full trial rather than a preliminary dismissal motion.
Adding to the defense’s challenges, the court noted the repeated unresponsiveness of Brandon Bowen, Perera’s named alibi witness, to police requests for an official statement. With the dismissal motion denied, Perera must now decide whether to testify in his own defense during the mandatory judge-alone trial proceeding, where Justice Pilgrim will render the final verdict. Crown prosecutor Kirk Brown leads the prosecution’s case against Perera.