A man accused of attempting to murder his reputed wife was yesterday sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to the offence back in October.
At his arraignment in October at the High Court in Demerara before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, Fazil Osman, 47, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder charge. He accepted that on February 24, 2019, he chopped the woman to her head, neck, arms, and about her body, with a cutlass.
Justice Barlow yesterday started the man’s sentence at 18 years. However, she said that one-third is to be deducted for his guilty plea along with a deduction for time served. “It is accepted that when an accused person pleads on the first reasonable opportunity, he should be afforded a 1/3 reduction from the sentence unless there are grounds for deviating therefrom… The court has found no reason to deviate from the one-third deduction and the accused will therefore have one-third deducted from the 18-year starting sentence.”
During sentencing, Justice Barlow informed that the court found that the
matter was a domestic violence dispute. She pointed out that whatever the issue was, the victim had visited the home to serve the accused with documents under the Domestic Violence Act along with a neighbourhood policeman – an officer of the law.
In a report to the court, it was stated that Osman claimed he was upset with the woman after she visited her family. He claimed that after she returned he was upset and she used her finger to poke him in his eye during an argument.
However, the Judge noted, that “… in a most aggressive manner, you attacked and chopped her in several parts of her body.”
The judge stressed that the victim still suffers from the chop injuries she sustained and that the areas where the injuries were inflicted and the manner of the attack showed an intention to kill. “There was disrespect not only for the victim but for the officer of the law who was present with the victim at the time.”
Meanwhile, in a victim impact statement, the court heard that the victim still suffers from pain in her head and eyes along with impaired vision due to the chop injuries. Further, she remains fearful and is unable to properly sleep. In addition it noted that the woman’s children have to be taken care of by their sickly grandmother.
Osman, a father of six, was represented by attorney Teriq Mohammed, while the State was represented by prosecutor Latifah Elliot.
Mohammed in a plea of mitigation, offered that his client had not wasted the court’s time and had accepted guilt. Further, the attorney reminded the court that Osman had accepted guilt during the investigation stages where he admitted the offence to investigators.
He noted the importance of rehabilitation and asked that his client benefit from it. “It shows that he has repentance to reform himself once he is exposed to the right training and counselling.”
Osman in addressing the court before sentencing begged for mercy.
