Murder victim’s dad: ‘There’s no winner. I can’t get my son back.’
In Sarita Roopnarine’s eyes, Juan Muriel is just as responsible for her son’s murder as the person who pulled the trigger during a 2013 robbery.
“You are a heartless monster, just like your friends, and you deserve the maximum sentence,” Sarita Roopnarine wrote in a victim impact statement read by a prosecutor during Muriel’s sentencing Friday in Osceola County.
She did not attend the sentenc- ing, telling prosecutors it would be too hard for her to again face one of four people charged in the 2013 death of her son, Eric Roopnarine.
Muriel waited in the car as three of his friends burst into Eric Roopnarine’s Poinciana home July 3, 2013, robbed him, and then shot and stabbed him until he died, prosecutors have said. Roopnarine was 22. Muriel agreed to testify against his three co-defendants in exchange for a reduced sentence. He pleaded no contest to charges of robbery with a firearm and possession of hydrocodone. Judge Jon B. Morgan sentenced Muriel to 10 years in prison and five years of probation, calling Muriel “instrumental” in helping the state get convictions in Roopnarine’s slaying.
Three others are accused in the death: Korad Schafer, who was 15 at the time and has since pleaded guilty; David Damus, who was found guilty in June and awaits sentencing; and Victoria Rios, who is awaiting trial.
Roopnarine’s murder was the end of a 15-day shooting spree across Kissimmee and St. Cloud. Prosecutors have accused Damus of shooting Roopnarine. Outside of the courtroom, Roopnarine’s father, Pooran Roopnarine, said he has been coming to court proceedings hoping they would help him get a sense of closure. He has not found that closure, he said.
“There’s no winner. We all suffer. They suffer, I suffer, the families suffer,” he said. “I can’t get my son back.”