“Obsessed, he was obsessed, really obsessed with her,” recalled the survivor of a February 21, 2025 brutal stabbing incident which left 20-year-old Jolie William of New Village, Castries dead.
The survivor, who spoke anonymously to our newsteam, will be referred to as Jane. Recovering from her attack, she gave insight into the discomfort she now experiences trying to revert to everyday life.
“Swallowing is an issue as well and I sleep on my belly but it is hard to sleep because of my neck, my arm. I got injuries to my ear, my chin, my head, my neck and my arm,” she explained.
Since the incident, detectives from the Gros-Islet Police Station’s Criminal Investigations Department arrested and charged Lance Brown, a 39-year-old resident of La Clery, Castries, with the attempted murder of Jane on February 28.
On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, Lance Brown was further charged with the murder of 20-year-old Jolie William and was subsequently escorted to the First District Court, where he applied for bail but was remanded into custody.
Intimate partner violence in Saint Lucia is an issue of international concern. The United Nations in 2020 listed the country as having one of the highest rates of femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) at 4.4 per 100,000 women. In 2020, there were 47 reported cases of Gender-Based Violence, and as of October, only three of which had been brought to trial.
Jane says she wants the fullest extent of the law to be sentenced on the perpetrator. “I myself, I want them to torture him. Like he has to feel the same pain the girl felt. He didn’t have to kill her,” she said.
A World Bank GBV Profile of Saint Lucia as of 2020 observes that societal pressures prevent women and girls from coming forward with their stories of abuse and hurt.
“It has been widely noted that much like elsewhere in the world, there is a culture of silence, shame and secrecy, which keeps all forms of gender based volence, particularly intimate partner violence and family violence closeted,” the report stated.
Jane’s message to young girls: run.
“If you’re seeing the red flags, just dip. They put their hands on you once, like, that’s a sign to just dip,” she warned.
Her mother, who also spoke to the news team, was inconsolable and could not hide her hatred for the man who almost took her daughter’s life.
“I could feel her pain too because I’m her mother, so I could I can feel the pain. “What I’m seeing in Saint Lucia, it should really be like you kill somebody then that person’s family should kill you back. Just hold you [and] hang you. We should not have you in prison, eating the tax money,” she said.
Violence against women has stirred passionate cries for justice from all quarters of the society, desperate for an end to these killings.
