Mother of slain 20-year-old rejects manslaughter verdict for police constable

Euon Douglas Graham says the 22-year sentence handed to Constable Patrick Walters falls far short of justice for her daughter D'Jonnay's killing.

Family condemns sentence in D'Jonnay Graham shooting death

The mother of D'Jonnay Graham, the 20-year-old assistant teacher shot dead by her police constable boyfriend in June 2025, has spoken out against the manslaughter conviction and sentence handed down in the case. Euon Douglas Graham told reporters outside the Supreme Court on Friday that the outcome was neither fair nor just, according to jamaica-gleaner.com.

"We not pleased and that's not fair. That's not manslaughter; that's murder," Graham said.

Constable Patrick Walters, 24, was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for manslaughter by Justice Tara Carr. He also received a concurrent sentence of 20 years and three months for using a firearm to commit a felony. Walters had initially faced a murder charge but pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter in the St Mary Circuit Court.

Graham said she had travelled from St Mary on Friday hoping to hear a sentence of at least 35 years before parole, with a preference for life imprisonment. She stopped short of suggesting that a longer term would have brought closure.

"Even if dem give him life, it nah go bring back my daughter, who mi cherish," she said.

Shooting at her Richmond home

According to the facts placed before the court, Walters was at D'Jonnay's home in Richmond, St Mary, at approximately 9:15 p.m. on June 25, 2025, when a dispute broke out between the two. D'Jonnay was shot during the altercation. Walters also sustained a gunshot wound to the head during the incident and was transported to the Port Maria Hospital alongside D'Jonnay, who later died from her injuries.

The mother said the argument had been triggered by a phone call her daughter received. She flatly rejected Walters' account that D'Jonnay had been struggling with him for his service firearm.

"D'Jonnay never did a fight him fi a gun," she said. "And even if she a fight you, why you shoot her so much time?"

She also dismissed his expressed remorse, saying she could only accept it as genuine if he had been truthful about what happened.

"You say she's trying to take the gun from you. You shoot her in her face. You hold her at close range. You shoot off her finger. You shoot off her ears. You shoot her in her leg, but the gun go off?" she said.

Graham described D'Jonnay's alleged role in the shooting — that she reached for the firearm — as the part of the narrative that caused her the most pain.

"The part that he said D'Jonnay was fighting for the gun and it go off, it even draw mi tears," she said. "Mi lost. Lost. Lost."

Constable treated as family member

Graham said Walters had been welcomed into her household and treated like a son. She described the relationship between him and D'Jonnay as loving, making the killing all the more devastating for the family.

"You leave and come to our home, home where we work hard and build, and you murder my daughter on the veranda," she said.

She characterised D'Jonnay as "loving, caring and harmless" and said the killing had torn apart the entire family. She recalled driving trips with her daughter and the small routines she now misses.

"My daughter is somebody who drive me from one end to another. If I'm going overseas, she'd bring me to the airport," she said.

Asked whether she was prepared to forgive Walters, Graham, who described herself as a Christian and a member of the Shiloh congregation, said she was not.

"No, because I don't give forgiveness. God will give forgiveness," she said. "Right now, I'm hurting from inside and out. But God will work on that."

Despite her disappointment with the sentence, she said she had no choice but to accept the court's ruling and allow herself time to heal.

Background

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled on July 17, 2025, following an investigation into the circumstances of D'Jonnay's death, that Walters should be charged with murder and with using a firearm to commit a felony. Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alice-Ann Gabbidon represented the Crown at the sentencing hearing, while attorney-at-law Donahue Martin appeared for Walters.

Source: Google News JM — Crime