Free National Movement senator Michaela Barnett-Ellis and the
women’s association of the Free National Movement have
expressed outrage in two separate statements following the ‘low
sentence’ given to a convicted rapist whose victims included an
83 year old woman. Senator Barnett-Ellis said “this sentencing is
not only an affront to the victims but also a clear failure of our
justice system to adequately protect women and hold violent
offenders accountable.” She added, “to grant such leniency is a
betrayal of the victims and a signal that violence against women,
no matter how horrific, is not taken with the seriousness it
deserves.”
The FNM women’s association calls the sentencing “a grave
miscarriage of justice” adding that “this sentence diminishes the
suffering the victims endured, trivializes their trauma, and erodes
public confidence in the justice system’s ability to protect women
from violent offenders.”
From December 31, 2022 to June 19, Joel Strachan now 22,
went on a robbing and raping spree which ended in the rape of
an 83-year-old woman when he broke into her home in Bain
Town. The woman was sitting on her bed reading her bible when
Strachan shoved her on the bed and had anal and vaginal sex
with her.
He pleaded guilty to rape, housebreaking, four counts of armed
robbery and assault with intent to rape when he appeared before
justice Jeanine Weech-Gomez. He was given a sentence of nine
years as part of a plea deal.