ANDREW Ketwaroo, who used to beat his reputed wife, 42-year-old Radika Ramjattan, was drinking with friends on August 23rd 2011 when his reputed wife joined him. She had gone there to collect her clothes, but she, too, began drinking.

An argument arose between the couple, and he slapped her and then stabbed her once in her abdomen with a knife.

Later, her sister saw him lying in bed hugging the deceased, who had blood on her body.

The doctor who performed the post-mortem gave her cause of death as perforation of the aorta and lungs due to stab wound.

The accused was charged with murder, but to prevent wastage of the court’s time, midway in the trial, he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

Accepting the plea, the judge thought it had factual basis and so directed the jury to return a formal verdict of the lesser count of manslaughter.

In mitigation, defence counsel Mr. Dexter Todd told the judge that the accused was 34 years old. According to Todd, the accused and the deceased had been deeply in love.

One of his problems is he fully admits he was a very hard drinker, which caused him to take things beyond his control. He has very little memory of what transpired that day, defence counsel said.

Counsel also said his client was remorseful, and urged the court to use its discretion in awarding sentence.

Prosecutrix Miss Narissa Leander, who along with Mrs. Judith Mursalin is representing the State, asked the court to consider the case as another domestic violence case, and pointed out that another woman had lost her life at the hands of the man she had loved and trusted.
Justice Navindra Singh began his sentence with a base of 30 years. He deducted 6 years for the plea, seven years for time already served, three years for genuine remorse, and two years for being a model prisoner.
The consequential sentence was 15 years’ imprisonment.

By George Barclay