Eugene St Romain’s 32-year jail sentence for the rape and murder of his 13-year-old step-daughter Verlinda Joseph, has been welcomed by women’s rights advocate Catherine Sealys, who believes justice has finally been served.
Joseph’s lifeless, half-naked and brutalised body was found in a heavily forested area in Calise, Laborie – yards away from the home she shared with her killer.
St Romain was arrested in 2004 and spent nearly a decade on remand before posting bail, set at $60 000, in 2013. Last year, a jury convicted him of her murder, but he was not sentenced until earlier this month.
Sealys, director of Raise Your Voice Saint Lucia, highlighted the timing of the ruling, coming just after the conclusion of the globally recognised 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
She suggested the punishment was a strong signal that violence of this kind would not be tolerated.
“We want to say that this should be a lesson to perpetrators who rape,” said Sealys, who has championed the fight against gender-based violence.
“We are thankful for this judgment because now I think the family can begin to look to see how they can heal and how the nation at large can heal from this because I think everybody was traumatised by this violation of trust and the violation of a young child who was supposed to be in the care of adults,” she added.
While pleased with the outcome of this case, Sealys noted that there are still many unsolved cases, and the fight for justice is far from over.
“We are also looking forward to solving the murders of a number of people,” she said.
Some concerning figures here: arrested in 2004, a decade on remand, 32 year sentence! So it took 20 years to find him guilty! Will the 10 years on remand be subtracted from the 32 year sentence? Also, $60 000.00 bail on a rape and murder of a child! Quite astonishing when you think that bail has been set much higher for other offenses not including the ones just mentioned. Life in this island of ours!
This is rubbish! 20 years? For 20 years the family has been hurting…come on st lucia. We need to do better
This man should get a life sentence
Had it not for Catherine, the public would never know the outcome of this case. A great shame for the media and media personnel in St. Lucia. All the media is interested in is politics . Now for this case why such a lenient sentence? Anyway how will we know the outcome of all these gun cases? Is adjourned a sentence?
We need to bring back the death penalty
Our laws need to be revised asap. Chass and PIP always in war in parliament they should be working on revising laws instead of bickering over foolish crap. A gruesome murder and just 32 years??? It took 20 years to decide his punishment was 32 years??? Sam’s Ole same Ole. Thanks Catherine Sealy for standing up for justice and bringing the truth to light.
PIP step up for the next elections.