Roger Delisle Sealy was responsible for the gruesome murder of Samara Bristol sometime between November 16 and 21, 2021.
It took an hour and 45 minutes for a 12-member jury to reach that verdict when Sealy’s trial wrapped up on Tuesday afternoon in the No. 4 Supreme Court before Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell.
Sealy, 59, of Airy Cot, St Thomas, will remain on remand at Dodds Prison until September 18, when the matters relating to his sentencing will be heard.
Bristol, 30, who had Barbadian and American citizenship, was reported missing on November 16 by her mother Samantha Bristol, of Queen’s, New York. Her body was discovered on November 21 in an area near the Mangrove Pond Landfill in St Thomas. Her mother testified of becoming frantic after hearing there had been screams at her Airy Cot, St Thomas home. She later learnt that her daughter was found dead. The last time she saw Samara was hours before she caught a flight from New York to Barbados on November 10, 2021. Sealy was the mother’s ex-boyfriend.
In his testimony, Sergeant Mervin Grace said Bristol’s body was discovered in a bushy area with a fractured skull and a rope tied around one ankle. Pieces of synthetic hair along a path led to the body lying face down, about 86 feet away from a piece of cardboard. She was still wearing several pieces of jewellery, her skull was cracked and her face disfigured.
Forensic pathologist Dr Shubhakar Karra Paul revealed that Bristol died from blunt force trauma to the head. In his post-mortem investigation, he found the body to be in a highly decomposed state, and facial and skull bones on the right side of the face showed several fractures – where the bones had shattered into multiple pieces.
“The skull fracture was caused by a heavy and blunt object. Ms Bristol had received a single blow by a heavy and blunt object over the right side of her head, causing concussion and her to fall to the ground. She was then repeatedly struck multiple times over the right side of the head, causing her facial and skull bones to fragment. This type of injury will result in fatality as her brain was lacerated and haemorrhaged, causing her death immediately,” he said.
In an unsworn statement from the dock, Sealy said he acted in self-defence and never intended to harm Bristol.
He told the court that on November 16, 2021, he returned home from work and when he pushed the key in the door, the lock did not open. He tried several other keys and eventually went around to the back of the house and tried a lock there as well, but none of them worked. He eventually broke out a panel of glass close to one of the locks and entered.
Once inside, he came upon Samara Bristol, who told him he could not enter the house. She went to the kitchen, took up a knife “and proceed to come at me, so I defend myself and I struck her and she fell to the ground. That was the last blow she received from me”, Sealy said.
Adding that he was “not proud” of what happened, Sealy said he panicked and instead of calling the police, he tried to conceal the body, which he moved.
Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale, SC, and State Counsel Paul Prescod prosecuted, while attorney Sian Lange represented Sealy. (SD)
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