MELBOURNE — A 19-year-old Melbourne man has been charged with manslaughter in the death of his father last month after the two quarreled over a plate of food, police say.
Julien Gabriel Welch-Beddoe was jailed Wednesday in connection with the Jan. 19 death of his 46-year-old father, Francis Welch, court records show. The case is the first reported homicide to take place in Brevard County this year.
Melbourne police said the incident happened at the pair’s home at 566 Sacre Coeur Drive. Welch-Beddoe had attempted to make a plate of food when his father — who had been drinking, according to court records — got up from the couch and told him that he didn’t deserve any food because he wasn’t working, police said.
Welch-Beddoe then walked back to his bedroom with the food. His father followed him and pushed him, police said. The two then struggled when the son struck the father in his ribs as his father held him in a chokehold, court records show.
Police said the father’s fiancé then intervened. The father went back to the couch but became unresponsive in five minutes. He was taken to Orlando Health Melbourne Hospital where doctors later declared him dead, court records show.
The medical examiner’s office reported that Welch had three broken ribs and a lacerated spleen as a result of the fight with his son.
Welch-Beddoe was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex in Sharpes. He was being held there Sunday on $50,000 bail, jail records show. A court date has not been set.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.
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