Tonight, 25-year-old Wayne Welch is serving his second night of a 3-year prison sentence. That's after he pleaded guilty to participating in the burglary of a Chinese couple's home and business place.
Viewers will remember the January 2019 break-in at 7 Days Shop, located at Mahogany Street in Belize City. Business owners, 58-year-old Rong Bin Liang, and his wife, 57-year-old Hefu Rong Liang, were closing shop when the three men jumped over the wall and held them up. They pushed the couple inside the building, where the men tied and beat them up. The men were preparing to ransack their home, but police first responders, including Police Commissioner Chester Williams, arrived to find the crime in progress.
The lawmen spotted the couple in the middle of an escape from their assailants. They were removed to safety, and that's when they informed the cops that their 16-year-old daughter was still inside their building. Police tried to breach the compound to rescue her, which caused the armed burglars to open fire on them.
The ComPol was later able to negotiate with the men to de-escalate the stand-off, and they eventually agreed to surrender to the police.
Welch was one of the men charged with that crime and stood trial before Chief Justice Sharon Frazer. He maintained innocence until the end of the trial, when the arresting officer was testifying against him. That's when he informed the court that he was changing his plea from not guilty to guilty.
Chief Magistrate Frazer sentenced him to spend three years in jail.
