A St. Vincent High Court judge has sentenced a 26-year-old man to more than 17 years in jail after he was found guilty of murdering a woman he wrongly thought had infected him with HIV/AIDS.
Justice Brian Cottle sentenced Desron Roberts, who had been remanded for nearly four years awaiting trial, to a further 17 years, five months, and 11 days in prison.
On June 27, Roberts pleaded not guilty to the charge that between October 24 and 27, 2018 he murdered Rhodesia Rochelle Bailey.
The court heard that Roberts, who was then 22, had a sexual relationship with Bailey, 30, whose house he frequented. On July 16, 2018, Bailey told Roberts that she was HIV positive and two days later, he went to see a doctor, who advised him to take a post-exposure treatment for HIV and to get tested.
Roberts began the course of medication but did not adhere to the prescription fully as he felt that some of the side effects of the medication were too harsh. He had bouts of depression and contemplated suicide but was afraid to speak to anyone about his problem for fear of the reaction that he would face.
On October 25, 2018, he took a knife with him to Bailey’s house in an attempt to kill her. A passing villager found Bailey’s body early the following morning. A post-mortem found she died of multiple stab wounds.
Following his arrest, Roberts confessed to murdering Bailey and took police to the house.
In sentencing Roberts, Justice Cottle said he saw no need to depart from the guidelines regarding the aims of criminal punishment, namely retribution, deterrence, prevention, and rehabilitation and the court must follow the sentencing guidelines unless they lead to injustice in a particular case.
He said there was a significant degree of premeditation involved in the killing, noting that Roberts took the knife with him to the scene and told the victim that he had come to kill her.
Justice Cottle said he found that Roberts did not have the coping skills or social support network to help him to deal with the consequences of having contracted HIV and the associated social stigma. He said it was unfortunate that when confronted with the crises, Roberts could only resort to violence. He, however, said he did not see Roberts as likely to re-offend.
CMC/
