NINE years after 19-year-old Maduri Padumdeo, called ‘Sharda’ was strangled to death in her bed, her reputed husband was on Wednesday sentenced to 15 and a half years imprisonment after confessing to the gruesome crime.
In November 2014, Michael Anthony Persaud was sentenced to 83 years imprisonment by Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court after being found guilty by a 12-member jury.
However, in May 2019, after moving to the appeal court his conviction and sentence were set aside and a retrial was ordered.
When Persaud appeared before Justice Sandil Kissoon on Wednesday, he opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. He confessed that on December 23, 2011, at Sophia, Georgetown, he unlawfully killed Padumdeo.
Persaud was represented by attorney-at-law Glen Hanoman, while the state was represented by prosecutor Tuanna Hardy, Tiffani Lyken, and Nafeeza Baig.
According to reports, ‘Sharda’s’ body was discovered naked in the bedroom of her 10×10 apartment in Sophia, with a black and white wire wrapped around her neck. Persaud was lying next to her in an intoxicated state.
It was also reported that the day before the young woman’s body was discovered, neighbours saw Persaud dragging her into the apartment, while she was screaming for someone to call the police.
“I can’t remember exactly what transpired,” Persaud told the court as he begged the court to be merciful and also asked Padumdeo’s family for forgiveness.
He also begged the judge to be lenient in sentencing, since his son whom he fathered with Padumdeo is 10-years-old and will be writing the Common Entrance Examination soon.
Hanoman in his plea of mitigation asked the court to consider the long period this client spent on remand since December 29, 2019.
According to the attorney, at the core of the crime is a triangular love affair, and at the apex of the triangle was his client, a man who loved dangerously.
Hanoman told the court that Padumdeo was involved in an intimate relationship with her employer and Persaud had found out.
The attorney explained that his client had dropped out of school at age 13, but was able to gain an education while behind bars through courses offered.
In 2015, Persaud won an award in prison for the best essay and short story competition and also managed to complete a six-week course on domestic violence.
In summing up his address to the court, Hanoman said that his client is rehabilitated and is ready to be reintegrated into society.
Padumdeo’s mother also begged the court for justice as he explained that Persaud had taken the life of her only daughter, whom she had struggled and raised as a single parent.
For her part, Prosecutor Hardy ask the court to consider that Padumdeo was only a teenager on her untimely death and the fact that a life was lost. She also pointed out that alcoholism and domestic violence seem to be the theme behind this story; these scourges seem to be the norm in a society where women are not allowed to live full lives.
Justice Kissoon considered the background of the case and the plea of mitigation, while also placing weight on the need to deter other like-minded individuals from committing similar crimes.
Eventually, Persaud was sentenced to 15 years and six months by Justice Kissoon, who ordered that the prison authorities deduct from the sentence, the time Persaud had spent on remand.
