ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing the teenage daughter of his longtime girlfriend.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Sanel Saint-Simon was sentenced Tuesday. Orange County jurors found Saint-Simon guilty in April of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
Landscapers found 16-year-old Alexandria Chery’s body on the Osceola-Polk county line in August 2014, several days after she was reported missing.
“I can understand her pain,” Sanel Saint-Simon reportedly said in court, referring to the child's mother. “The pain is mine as well. She was my daughter as well. I regret what happened. I will say again that I don’t know what happened, I don’t know."
Saint-Simon helped raise Chery since she was about 5 years old. Her family has said Saint-Simon sexually abused her before her murder.
