Roger Sealy convicted of murdering Samara Bristol in St Thomas

A jury took under two hours to unanimously reject Roger Sealy's self-defence claim and find him guilty of murdering 30-year-old Samara Bristol. Sentencing is set for September 18.

Jury rejects self-defence claim, convicts Sealy of Bristol murder

A jury needed less than two hours to unanimously convict Roger Sealy of murdering 30-year-old Samara Bristol, barbadostoday.bb reports. Sealy, from Airy Cot, St Thomas, showed no visible reaction in the dock of No. 4 Supreme Court as the guilty verdict was delivered on the charge of murdering Bristol between November 16 and 21, 2021.

Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell remanded Sealy to Dodds Prison ahead of sentencing, after defence attorney Sian Lange requested pre-sentence and psychological reports. The judge thanked the jury for their service and adjourned the matter until September 18.

Fire damage and a body found four days later

A forensic scenes of crime officer told the court he had attended a property at Airy Cot in the early morning hours of November 17 and found fire and heat damage to several rooms, along with blood inside the house and on the roadway outside. Four days later, he located Bristol's body in a bushy area in Mangrove, St Thomas. The skull had been cracked open and the face was disfigured.

A forensic pathologist determined that blunt force trauma to the head was the cause of death, with Bristol having been struck multiple times. "This type of injury will result in fatality as her brain was lacerated and hemorrhaged, causing her death immediately," the pathologist testified.

Mother describes rocky relationship and frantic phone calls

Bristol's mother, Samantha, who divides her time between Barbados and the United States, took the witness stand and told the court she and Sealy had been in a relationship for a few years. She said the relationship had become strained around the same period as her daughter's death.

Samantha said her Airy Cot home was undergoing renovation at the time — being converted and extended — and that she was solely financing the works while Sealy was supplying the labour. Her daughter arrived in Barbados on November 10, she told the court.

Six days after that arrival, Samantha said she was at her US residence when she received a call reporting screams coming from her St Thomas property. She contacted a neighbour in Barbados and asked him to check on the house. He reported back that the glass in the front door was broken, no one appeared to be home, and he could see blood.

Sealy's unsworn account: 'I panicked'

In an unsworn statement from the dock, Sealy said he returned home from work to find none of his keys working in either the front or back doors and broke a glass panel to get inside. He described what he said happened next:

"When I get inside, not knowing anyone was there, Ms Bristol she attacked. She tell me I can't come in the house, went in the kitchen, take up a knife and proceed to come at me, so I defend myself and I struck her and as soon as she fall to the ground, that was the last blow she received from me."

Sealy acknowledged concealing the body. "I am not proud of what happened. I panicked. I should have called the police, but I panicked and try to conceal the body and I did move it," he said.

The jury rejected that account in full.

Prosecution

Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC and State Counsel Paul Prescod prosecuted the case.

Source: Google News BB — Crime