Tributes to killed bartender as boyfriend is sentenced to prison
By Latrishka Thomas
The man who killed 25-year-old Arnal “Angel” Joseph has been sentenced to spend 11 years and nine months behind bars, after he was convicted of manslaughter.
But the victim’s former boss believes that the sentence, which the court imposed on Timothy Jackman yesterday, was “too low”.
George Kaersenhout, owner of the West Point bar in Jolly Harbour where the transgender woman last worked, told Observer, “I think it’s a low sentence, but I don’t know the background. I don’t know why it is the way it is but her life was worth more.”
Kaersenhout said he believes that when a young life is destroyed, the killers should never be let back into society.
He also paid tribute to the popular bartender, describing her as “soft and sweet”.
“I have no bad experiences with her whatsoever,” he said.
Kaersenhout, however, disclosed that Jackman, Joseph’s boyfriend, was “possessive and controlling”.
He told Observer that Joseph mentioned that “she had some problems with her boyfriend” that were not due to her sexuality.
“I know that they were arguing a lot because sometimes she had bite marks and bruises on her body and I said ‘what happened’, and she said ‘well, we had a fight’,” he further shared.
He said that the last time he saw Joseph, she said she was going to move out of the apartment she shared with her boyfriend.
Jackman, 22, and the deceased reportedly entered into a relationship in 2016 and those who knew them described it as volatile.
In the days leading to the tragic incident, neighbours recalled hearing constantly loud arguments and that both Joseph and Jackman appeared to have grown tired of each other and planned to move out.
And, on the day of her death, neighbours told Observer that Joseph was moving out on the morning of the tragedy and that bags containing her belongings were outside the apartment when undertakers removed the body.
A subsequent autopsy revealed that she died from exsanguination – blood loss – from a puncture wound to the right jugular vein.
In February this year, Jackman pleaded guilty to manslaughter of his partner which occurred at their apartment in Potters Village on August 29 2018.
He was initially charged with the murder of Joseph, who police said suffered a fatal stab wound.
The charge was reduced to manslaughter by way of provocation.
Yesterday, Judge Ann Marie Smith considered several factors in order to arrive at the sentence.
The mitigating factors were that Jackman turned himself in to police almost immediately after the incident and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
However, there was no evidence that he tried to get help for Joseph immediately after the stabbing.
