Eric Sookchine, who stabbed his wife to death, was yesterday sentenced to an eight-year jail sentence for manslaughter.
Justice Brassington Reynolds handed down the sentence to Sookchine, who was initially indicted for murder but confessed to the lesser charge during trial a week ago, escaping a possible conviction and death sentence. The cane harvester stabbed his wife, Jashoda, who was eight weeks pregnant at the time, in the heart.
After listening to a probation report and mitigation plea, Reynolds told Sookchine that it was clear that he succumbed to the passion provoked by his marital circumstances. Justice Reynolds told Sookchine that his wife’s behaviour was not anywhere near to what it ought to be. “But that is one side of the story, we may never know the other side,” he said. “People do things for many reasons. …My regret is that I am not allowed to pass sentence on the third parties, be it your neighbour, relative or friend who betrayed your trust. You took the law into your own hands without considering your innocent children’s welfare,” he added.
Sookchine faced a second trial after the first was aborted due to approaches made to a member or members of the jury panel by persons connected to him last November.
Probation Officer Mitford Ward said Sookchine was highly commended for his industriousness and his relationship with residents in the Corentyne community. He explained that while the man hailed from a poor family and was not successful in his educational pursuit, he worked hard, determined to provide for needs and comforts for his family.
However, seemingly overwhelmed by his perception of his wife’s infidelity, Ward said he adopted an evil course of action that was contrary to his upbringing.
He told the court that the couple married according to Hindu rites and raised their three children, aged 12, nine and seven. Further, they lived happily for the greater part of the ten years they lived together. Ward noted that they acquired a property, furnished with most of the necessities for comfortable living. But investigations revealed that the latter years of their relationship were filled with turmoil as there were allegations of infidelity on the woman’s part while Sookchine was accused of being abusive to her. The relationship, Ward said, grew progressively worse, causing the woman to leave the matrimonial home and return to her mother on some occasions. The situation also resulted in an intervention by the Probation and Welfare Department.
According to Ward, Sookchine expressed remorse for his crime, relating that he felt very sorry that he had deprived his children of their mother. He also told the probation officer that he should have allowed better judgment to prevail. Ward added that the wanton disregard for life in our society must be firmly apprehended with strength of the law in order to curb this increasing trend of violent behaviour now plaguing society.
In his plea of mitigation, Senior Counsel Marcel Crawford said the incident was triggered after the deceased’s lover, Mark Bangroo, told her husband that she loved him. “Your Honour, my client had intended to live an honourable life, having waited until age of 25 years to marry. The deceased was unfaithful,” he said. Referring to the evidence, he said even her partner in infidelity said he took her to a hotel in New Amsterdam in April 2005. “From that relationship, the post mortem report revealed that she was six weeks pregnant, but it was not my client’s child,” he added.
In the statement of one of the couple’s children, it was revealed that Jashoda would send the child to call Bangroo, who was subsequently seen on the matrimonial bed feeding the deceased chocolates. “Please, sir, let the hammer of mercy fall leniently. He could not take it anymore,” Crawford added.
Prosecutor Dionne McCammon led the state’s evidence.
