Little is recorded about Joseph Solomon’s early life, but court and government records describe him as a working-class Saint Lucian man who had held various manual jobs before his first conviction. What is clear is that Solomon first came into the public eye in 1979, when he was arrested and convicted for rape and murder. 

In the years following his conviction, Solomon’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment under a clemency decision by the Saint Lucia government. He spent 14 years in custody and was pardoned and released in 1993 as part of a general amnesty program for prisoners deemed rehabilitated after long incarceration. Upon release, Solomon attempted to reintegrate into society by working as a gardener and laborer.

In 1979, Joseph Solomon was convicted of rape and murder in Saint Lucia. As per the law at the time, this conviction carried a mandatory death sentence, and he was sentenced to die by hanging. However, the government later commuted his sentence to life imprisonment, and Solomon remained incarcerated for the next 14 years.

In 1993, despite the serious nature of his original conviction, Solomon was granted a pardon and released from prison. The decision to free him shocked many and would later become a point of political and legal controversy.

Only one year after his release, in 1994, Solomon was again arrested for the murder of a woman who had hired him to be her gardener. The victim’s name was not released publicly, but reports confirm that the murder was violent and that Solomon had been working for her at the time. Details of the killing, including the exact method and motive, remain unclear in official records.

In 1994, Solomon was tried and convicted for the second time, once again sentenced to death by hanging.

On October 17, 1995, Joseph Solomon was executed at Her Majesty’s Prison in Castries, the capital of Saint Lucia.