HANOVER, Jamaica – The man charged with the brutal rape and murder of nine-year-old Nikita Noel in Hanover five months ago has been sentenced to life in prison. He will not be eligible for parole until serving 50 years and 7 months in prison.

The sentence was handed down to 42-year-old Omar Green of a Barbary Hill, Lucea address a short while ago in the Hanover Circuit Court by Justice Courtney Daye.

Green was sentenced to life in prison for rape and is not eligible for parole until 43 years and 7 months. He was also given life in prison and is not eligible for parole until 50 years and 7 months in prison for the offence of murder.

Both sentences are to run concurrently.

The court was also given a gruesome and graphic description of the sequence of what took place, the evidence found, documented and the results from the lab and a post-mortem examination.

The post-mortem report indicated that the child died of manual strangulation while the DNA profile from the exhibits provided, including semen to the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine has strongly linked Green as a contributor or in some cases cannot be excluded.

For such a heinous crime, the DPP office served a death penalty notice on March 28. However, this was withdrawn on July 11.

READ: DPP to seek death penalty against stepdad accused in Nikita Noel murder

Green was represented by attorney-at-law, Albert Morgan.

Nikita, a former Esher Primary School student whose family members fondly called Joanna, was killed on the afternoon of February 1, 2023. Earlier that morning, the accused and the child’s mother allegedly had a domestic dispute.

Reports are that the nine-year-old travelled from school with her usual taxi driver before she and other passengers exited the cab at the usual spot, the foot of a dirt road leading up a hill that leads to where her family lives.

READ: Stepfather of 9-y-o Nikita Noel charged with rape, murder

The child’s mother raised an alarm after she did not return home as scheduled and could not be found. Community members and the police launched a search and her body was found a few feet from the entrance to her home.

READ: ‘It’s dreadful, it hurts’ – Mother of 9-y-o Hanover schoolgirl devasted after losing only daughter

The family dog was also found with both rear legs bound by a shirt.

– Anthony Lewis