By Owen Pence
On Wednesday, more than ten years after the death of 26-year-old Julaine Jules, the man who killed her pleaded guilty. Shabazz Augustine, 36, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a life sentence in prison, with the possibility of parole in 15 years.
Julaine Jules
“I am deeply, vehemently sorry, from the bottom of my heart,” Augustine said in court, addressing members of Jules’ family who were in the courtroom.
On August 24th, 2004, Augustine, a former dental assistant from Dorchester, had his cousin call Jules in a ploy to lure her to Augustine’s home. The cousin told her Augustine had ingested poison. When Jules arrived at Augustine’s home, he suffocated her, then bagged her body and dumped it in the Charles River. He then set fire to her car. Augustine was not arrested until 2011.
During the highly emotional day at Suffolk County Superior Court, Jules’ aunt Andrea Volcy read a statement written by the victim’s mother, Germaine Vincent.
“You left me to feel pain and suffering every day. You killed a part of me when you took my daughter,” Volcy said, tears in her eyes as her sister sobbed next to her. “You killed a part of me when you took my daughter. I can no longer share joy or happiness with my husband.”
Vincent and her husband emigrated from Haiti, with Jules’ father working long hours as a taxi driver to give their children a better life.
Volcy, reading Vincent’s words to Augustine, expressed hope that he could one day become a different man.
Shabazz Augustine
“I pray for you every day,” she said, “so that God can change your heart.
The Suffolk DA’s office used Wednesday’s court proceedings to remind victims of domestic violence about services that are available to them:
SafeLink, a statewide DV hotline, can be reached at 877-785-2020. SafeLink is answered by trained advocates 24 hours a day in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as TTY at 877-521-2601. It also has the ability to provide translation in more than 140 languages.
