Chetram Nowrang was yesterday sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for killing his wife, Jasoda Budhoo.
Justice Roxane George yesterday handed down the sentence to Nowrang, who was originally indicted for the capital offence of murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
According to State Counsel Rhondell Weaver, on May 27, 2007, Nowrang confessed to holding down the victim and cutting her neck with a knife.
A post-mortem examination revealed that Budhoo succumbed to an incised wound to the throat, in addition to respiratory distress symptoms, he added.
Defence lawyer Charrandass Persaud said the manslaughter was an unfortunate act, and noted that Nowrang had expressed regret. He said that Nowrang, who had been sentenced to five years imprisonment on a narcotics possession charge, would have to live with the fact that a life was lost at his hands. In a statement from the dock, Nowrang said he was sorry for what happened as he did not mean to kill his wife.
“You have to serve a lengthy imprisonment. The prosecution’s facts struck me,” Justice George said. “Jasoda Budhoo’s throat was slit. You treated her like a chicken… A strong message has to be sent [about] intimate party relationships and perpetrators of domestic violence.” She noted that there have been too many incidents of women being killed senselessly.
“The other injuries, which include abrasions, confirmed that there was a struggle, a fight between the two of you. Maybe you had too much to drink, but even in those circumstances, you have no right to take a life… too much rancour, violence, and hate …. People don’t want to step away or mediate, they pick fights everywhere; it’s a horrible way to live. What kind of society is this?” she questioned.
The judge told Nowrang that in keeping with sentencing for intimate party violence, she would start with 25 years, and would subtract five years for the earlier trial and a year each for his offer of regret and not wasting the court’s time.
