KUMAR Ranji Singh was last week sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by Justice Dianne Inshanally after she took into consideration a plea in mitigation, counseling received by religious persons and psychiatric treatment.The former cane harvester, who seemed satisfied with the sentence, was initially indicted for murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, which was accepted by the State.

In addition to the three and a half years which was spent as a remanded prisoner, the judge noted that it was not made clear by the Prosecution how the injuries were incurred.
She questioned whether it could have been accidental and noted, too, how the main witness, the nine-year-old daughter of the prisoner changed her story, saying one thing in her evidence-in-chief and another during cross-examination.
“So, I have started with 17 years. Two years have been deducted for the plea of guilt as he has thrown himself at the mercy of the Court; another three and a half years have been subtracted for the period spent in prison and an additional one and a half years for the mitigation factors. Your are sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment,” Justice Inshanally told the convict.

Supreme being
Prior to thanking the judge for pronouncement, Singh lifted his head skyward and muttered in an apparent recognition of a supreme being.

Earlier, in a statement from the dock, the prisoner had told the Court:”Your Honour, I am a baptised Christian. I worked hard and honest to maintain my family. They were never short of anything. I am sorry. Please be lenient.”
Meanwhile Defence Counsel Kim Kyte-John, in a mitigating plea, pointed out that the convict had thrown himself at the mercy of the Court and taken responsibility for his role which led to the unfortunate act.
“With respect to domestic violence, society says it is on the rise but the peculiar facts need to be dealt with, as it is not on every occasion the male party is the aggressor. These are times when the female is the aggressor. Both husband and wife have seemed to have relied on violence to solve their difficulty.
“My client has a wound on his hand which was inflicted before this incident.
“The only credible account of what transpired that day was from the caution statement, the version revealed by the nine-year- old was recanted in the caution statement. The pathologist said the injury could have been sustained by the deceased falling on a knife. My client throws himself pleading for leniency. He still has a minor in his life. Your Honour, as the old people say, every story has two sides.”
Relating her version, State Prosecutrix Renita Singh said the prisoner was living with his wife for approximately 26 years when they began to have martial difficulties which resulted in their separation.
On July 23, 2010, the prisoner left his home at John’s, Port Mourant to go to the shop when he saw his wife and their daughter walking ahead of him.

PHYSICALLY ABUSIVE
They went into the grocery shop together, and whilst waiting to be attended, he pleaded with his wife to return home but she became physically abusive.

He continued to plea and he said she took a knife from her handbag and tried to bore him but he grabbed it from her and they fell on the ground.
According to the Prosecutrix, Singh said he saw blood on his wife’s neck and, thereafter, told the victim that he was going home to kill himself.
He subsequently went home, tied a rope around his neck and tried to hang himself but was rescued by the Police, who took him in an unconscious state and he was admitted to the New Amsterdam Hospital.
However, according to the couple’s then nine year old daughter Amanda Singh, on the day she accompanied her mother to the shop, and whilst they were in the yard of the business premises, she opted to sit in a hammock, where she saw her parents speaking to each other, before her father ‘bore’ her mother.
Written By Jeune Bailey Vankeric