Jermaine Pearman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole for murder.It's not long enough.Pearman, 37, stabbed 23-year-old prison officer Shakeya DeRoza to death at her home in July, 2009. Ms DeRoza had two young children, one of them by Pearman, but had recently ended their three-year relationship after a series of violent attacks at his hands.Pearman received his “life sentence” because of the murder and the brutal abuse he inflicted beforehand.But this gruesome murder was only the latest in a series of crimes committed by the man, who, aside from the crimes for which he was previously convicted, had also been accused of or implicated in others, from which he had either been acquitted or not charged.The principle of law is that you are innocent until proven guilty. But just as people can be wrongly convicted, they can be wrongly acquitted. The evidence may be inadequate, the defence may be brilliant, or the prosecution may have been bungled. It's a fact, even though few in the justice system will admit it.Jermaine Pearman was and is a sexual predator, and Shakeya DeRoza's death is as much a result of the failure of the system to protect the public and to rehabilitate him as it is the actions of Pearman himself.The other dirty little secret is that the rehabilitation offered to sexual offenders in and out of prison is often inconsistent. And even when it is offered, its success rate is depessingly low. In that context, it is the responsibility of the courts and the Government to protect the public from people who present a clear and present danger to others.The responsibility of the courts and the Government is to ensure, in memory of Shakeya DeRoza, out of respect for Pearman's past victims and for the sake of all women, that he not be able to commit these crimes again.And if it is unable to guarantee rehabilitation, or that he will not re-offend, then every effort should be made to ensure that he remains in prison, where he can do no more harm. That this is the only option is deeply regrettable. The idea of locking people up and throwing away the key does not fit with modern ideas about corrections and rehabilitation. But there are crimes and criminals for which correction is not available.If Jermaine Pearman was the only person who has followed this path, it would be one thing. But Bermuda has seen this happen before, most notably in the case of Ze Selassie, who raped and murdered 14-year-old Rhiana Moore. He too had a history of sexual offences. He too had followed a pattern of worse and worse offences that was all toopredictable.And while there must be punishment and deterrence, the system also fails sexual offenders by not giving adequate counselling and not monitoring their actitivities when they are not incarcerated.Sadly, this community still does not treat sexual offences with the gravity they deserve, and there are those who continue to believe that somehow women bring rape and worse upon themselves. No one deserves to be raped and no one deserves to die.Perhaps Shakeya DeRoza's death will prove to be a wake-up call. But if it is not, then Jermaine Pearman must remain locked up until he does not pose a risk to anyone.