Painful flashbacks
Father tormented by murder of 8-year-old son; stepfather gets life in prison for offence
Published:Saturday | April 2, 2022 | 12:10 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
Imagine seeing the body of your beloved eight-year-old son sinking underwater with his hands bound every time you shower.
That has been the grim reality for Dudley Buchanan since his son, Galen, was killed in a devilish and callous manner by his stepfather, Ochest Rose, who was upset with the child’s mother, Tamra Lewis, for ending their love affair.
The 42-year-old auto mechanic, who claimed the mother’s betrayal had pushed him to throw his stepson into the Kingston Harbour on January 23, 2020, was yesterday sentenced in the Home Circuit Court to life in prison for Galen’s murder, with a stipulation that he serves 27 years and 10 months before being eligible for parole.
The young boy was at home watching television and eating the last meal from his dad when Rose lured him away under the guise that he was going to buy him ice cream.
Two days after he went missing, his body was found by a fisherman in the harbour.
Yesterday before the sentence was handed down, Justice Ann-Marie Lawrence-Grainger, through Dudley’s victim impact statement, shared that he has been experiencing constant torment even in simple things such as bathing.
“The father said for the rest of his life he can never forget this, something that will remain with him and that even when he bathes, a simple everyday activity, he sees Galen, and he sees him with his hands tied underwater and he is constantly tormented.
“This is something that no parent should ever have to deal with,” the judge read while agreeing. “He said he is destroyed inside and that Rose should never be allowed to repeat this atrocity on this society. No more productive leaders should have their life cut short by heartless persons.
The distraught father also shared that he had a very close relationship with his son, whom he described as being very honest, extremely sensitive and happy and lamented the way in which Rose had betrayed his son’s trust in him.
After the sentence was handed down, Dudley, who immediately lit up a cigarette, said that he was pleased with the decision and that it was in line with what he had expected.
Galen’s mother, Tamara Lewis, was equally pleased with the sentence.
“I pray night and day, we put God before and I say my tears not going down in vain because my baby very innocent fi deserve this death, better him did sick and dead,” she said smiling through her pain.
Justice Lawrence-Grainger, before delivering the sentence, told Rose who had eight previous convictions including indecent assault and wounding with intent, that he had not learned any lesson although the system had given him more than one opportunity to live positively.