Omar Green gets life in prison for Nikita Noel murder
9-y-o’s mother happy, despite intimate history with convicted murderer
Published:Tuesday | August 1, 2023 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Even though she once shared an intimate relationship with Omar Green, Nordia Edwards felt no pity for him yesterday as he was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering her nine-year-old daughter, Nikita Noel.
“He got the chance to apologise in court, but I do not take his apology. He apologised to the court, not to me, and an apology cannot bring back my daughter,” Edwards told The Gleaner minutes after exiting the Hanover Circuit Court, where Green was sentenced.
“I feel good about his sentencing, although it will not bring back my daughter. I feel pleased because another child will not have to suffer,” added Edwards.
Green was sentenced to two separate terms of life imprisonment, one for the murder and the other for the rape. The sentences will run together. He is to serve 50 years and seven months for the murder, and 43 years and seven months on the rape charge before he is eligible for parole.
During the three-hour sentencing hearing, which was presided over by High Court Justice Courtney Daye, 42-year-old Green got a chance to issue a public apology to Nikita’s family following an application from his attorney, Albert Morgan.
“I ask the family members to forgive me, especially her mother,” Green said from the prisoner’s dock, as he kept his eyes fixed on Daye.
In his summation, Daye said one of the factors in the sentencing process was the prosecution’s argument that Green, who had been in a tumultuous relationship with Edwards, took advantage of the trust Nikita had in him.
“This is a situation of a breach of trust because he [Green] was the partner of the mother of this little girl. He was not a stranger, and he breached that trust and that has to be added to his sentence,” said Daye.
“Another aggravating factor is the violation of the domestic factor between himself and the child’s mother. The use of that domestic situation to involve the child in this brutal way is another factor, as she was a child of tender years and he is an adult and a responsible man,” continued Daye.
“We as a nation, including the judiciary, have signed off on international treaties that say we are to protect women, girls, and children,” added Daye.
During the hearing, it was also noted that Green has had previous court appearances for destroying another girlfriend’s property and for firearm-related offences and that his actions against Nikita were done as a means of taking revenge on her mother.
Nikita Noel was reported missing by her mother on February 1 after she did not return home from classes at Esher Primary School, where she was a student.
A search was launched, and the child’s body was later discovered in bushes near her home. A subsequent postmortem revealed that she had been raped and strangled.
Green was later taken into custody following police investigations. Before Monday’s sentencing hearing, he pleaded guilty to the charges of rape and murder on July 11.
Even though Green will most likely spend the rest of his life in prison, in her victim impact statement, which was read aloud in court, Edwards made it clear that the hurt he caused her will never fully heal.
“In relation to the rape and murder of my daughter, I still do not feel good since the incident. Every day the incident still stares me in my face ... . Omar Green left a scar on the family that will never be removed,” Edwards said.