The father of 15-year-old Achazia James, who was found dead with multiple chop wounds and a severed hand on Runway Beach in August 2024, has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for defaulting on court payments related to a fatal traffic incident.
Claude Steadroy James broke down in tears yesterday as he told Justice Tunde Bakre that his daughter’s brutal murder had created overwhelming hardships that prevented him from meeting financial obligations stemming from his own criminal conviction.
The imprisoned father had been ordered to pay $15,000 in compensation to the family of Elba Perez, a Hispanic woman in her 60s whom he killed in a vehicle collision on Joseph Lane on the night of April 13, 2021. He was also required to pay a $4,000 fine following his June 2024 conviction for causing death by dangerous driving.
Perez sustained catastrophic injuries in the crash, including severe facial lacerations with profuse bleeding, bilateral rib fractures, brain bleeding, and eye trauma that left her with impaired vision in one eye and complete lack of response in the other. She died from the extensive trauma caused by James’s vehicle.
When James appeared in court yesterday for failing to make the required payments within the specified timeframes, he detailed his unsuccessful attempts to comply with the court’s orders. He described making multiple visits to the High Court seeking assistance with payment processing, contacting his lawyer who refused help without payment, and requesting extensions through proper channels.
James also mentioned the devastating impact of his teenage daughter’s murder, which occurred just two months after his conviction. Achazia James was discovered on Runway Beach having suffered multiple chop wounds, with one of her hands completely severed in what appeared to be a particularly violent killing.
Despite the father’s emotional testimony about how his daughter’s death had compounded his difficulties, Justice Bakre imposed the alternative sentence that had been established at the time of James’s original sentencing, committing him to serve the full 24-month prison term for his failure to meet the court-mandated payments.
Wow!!!
Stop play with Haitians. You still have to pay that money when you get out
The woman was Hispanic, NzOT Haotian! There is a distin t difference!
All is one, the obeah is strong!!
WAW. What did i just read. Hmmm . There are so many things wrong with this story. I dont know what to say. I just keep reading it over. Waw
Lol all the comments about Voodoo is causing me the hiccups. Ita all about responsibility. No voodoo. Karma maybe but not voodoo.
WAW. What did i just read. Hmmm . There are so many things wrong with this story. I dont know what to say. I just keep reading it over. Waw
This is a heartbreaking story on so many levels. While the law must take its course, the immense personal tragedy of losing a child to murder, compounded by a prison sentence for an unrelated debt, highlights the profound and often cruel intersections of life’s challenges.
Can’t begin to imagine the heartbreak of the James! Losing your daughter, then charged for death by driving which I sure this is was a better of pure frustration and just lost without words. I would believe that you didn’t intentionally did this! Nobody knows the pain people go through and sometimes you feel so lost and frustrated! I can tell you all about it. Now you’re sentenced to prison while your daughter’s killer/s is still out there living a good life and smiling, laughing! And you’re mourning not only the death of your daughter but the frustration of being behind the bars for something you wish you could reverse or erase
I know some.parwnts believe that their actions dont follow their children. But they so.
The Heinous method in which Jame’s daughter was slaughtered, is the wickedest, most evil, that I ever learned of, but let’s get the time sequence right.
James killed the woman in the car crash TWO MONTHS BEFORE his daughter was killed.
It is very disturbing to imagine that her dismemberment and death was in retaliation for her father’s killing of the lady.
Do not pretend that there is no Evil being practiced in our islands. There are living Demons among us.
Remember, it is from the lost Souls who failed the JUDGMENT that SATAN recruits his DEMONS. That is why he encourages them to do Evil things. It is in this life that they qualify.