‘I wish it was more’ - Victim reacts as ex-boyfriend who set her on fire gets 12 years
Published:Friday | January 30, 2026 | 8:13 PM
A St Catherine man who pleaded guilty to pouring gasolene on his former girlfriend and setting her on fire while she slept in 2023 has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Antwone “Bad Fowl” Grey, of Central Village, was sentenced in the St Catherine Circuit Court on Friday by Justice Dale Palmer. Two years were deducted from the sentence for time already spent in custody.
“I wish it was more,” said Alecia King, the victim, in response to the sentence. “What he’s going to go through in that cell for 12 years, I’ve been through even worse in just two years.”
The court heard that about 3:15 a.m. on August 24, 2023, Grey, who was 19 at the time, attacked the then 17-year-old King at her home in Redwood District, St Catherine, while she slept.
Grey fled the scene and remained at large until February 2024, when he was arrested one day after King returned to the island from a Sanmerna Foundation-assisted trip to the Shriners Burns Center in Florida. She underwent six months of intensive, life-saving treatment.
The matter was initially heard in the St Catherine Parish Court, where Grey made several appearances, before being transferred to the High Court, where he pleaded guilty.
At the time of the attack, King was awaiting her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examination results. She later passed six subjects and is now pursuing nursing training.
King said she still has additional surgeries to undergo.
"I definitely do not feel safe... regardless, I'm just giving God thanks and I'm just gonna push on. I'm doing nursing school even though it is so hard. Sometimes me can't find it fi go a school but me just haffi big up Sanmerna Foundation, Shriners hospital, everybody weh help me," she said.
Rasbert Turner and Tanesha Mundle contributed to this article.
Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.