Raymond O’Selmo has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 2019 fatal stabbing of Nadina Kalamadeen, whom he attacked and chopped about the body and face, after she rebuffed his advances for a relationship.
With deductions to be made for the time O’Selmo has spent on remand, however, he would only be serving just about six years behind bars for the killing of the mother of five.
He had been originally indicted for murder, but pleaded to the lesser offence of manslaughter which had been accepted by the Court and State.
O’Selmo would then accept the charge which read that he unlawfully killed Kalamadeen on February 27th, 2019 at North Sophia.
Attorney Teriq Mohammed in a mitigating plea, asked Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry to consider his client’s early plea, which he sought to note was saving the Court considerable time in otherwise having to conduct a trial.
According to Mohammed, the offender had been imbibing prior to the attack, which could have led to him not being master of his mind.
The lawyer then commended his client as having the potential for rehabilitation he said, notwithstanding his age.
When given a chance to address the court, O’Selmo said, “Sorry for whatever took place between me and Nadina. I can’t remember what happen between me and her.”
Prosecutor Mikel Puran had said that O’Selmo became enraged after the woman pulled her hand away from him while she was walking home. As a result, he stabbed her with a knife about six times.
He asked the judge to have regard to the prevalence of violence against women in Guyana and against that background, to impose a sentence that would serve as a deterrent to potential offenders.
He described the tragedy as an unjustifiable loss of a life.
The prosecutor noted, too, that the offender has had previous brushes with the law; being convicted back in 1990 for carnal knowledge of a 12-year-old girl for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Then in 2011, the prosecutor said that the felon was fined for unlawfully discharging a gun.
In delivering her sentencing remarks, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry said that O’Selmo as an adult, is taken to have known the consequences of his actions, though she noted that he appeared genuinely remorseful for his actions.
The judge said that she, however, also considered the psychological effects on the woman’s parents, but more specifically her five children.
The judge commenced the sentence at a base of 21 years; but after making a number of deductions said that he would be sentenced to 10 years, with the prisons to make further deductions for the time he would have spent on remand.
“Thank you very much Ma’am. May the good Lord bless you,” the convict said after the sentence was passed.
Background
Following the woman’s killing, police said that investigations had revealed that Kalamadeen was walking along First Street, North Sophia when the suspect approached her.
This newspaper had been previously told that Kalamadeen had been avoiding the suspect for some time, as he reportedly wanted a relationship with her and the interest was not mutual.
Minutes later, the police said an eyewitness recalled seeing the suspect inflicting injuries about Kalamadeen’s body with a knife.
