A Guyanese painter was on Wednesday sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in New York after he was found guilty of killing and dismembering his common-law wife, a New York Post article said.

Joshua Nowrang, 44, was convicted of the 2005 death of Rawayti “Anita” Haimraj, 35, the mother of his two children. The woman’s relatives said he had vowed to make them cry forever. “He said he’s going to make all of us put our hands on our head and cry for the rest of our lives,” Seeta Pooran, one of the woman’s sisters told Bronx judge, Michael Gross, before he handed down the sentence.

Pooran was one of several family members who found parts of Haimraj’s body in a creek near Ferry Point Park. Prosecutors said Nowrang killed his wife during a heated argument over money after she had decided to end the union. At issue were the proceeds from the anticipated sale of the couple’s home, for which Haimraj was listed as the owner. According to information provided to the court, when concerned relatives asked Nowrang his of whereabouts on discovering Haimraj missing, the man said he had gone fishing near Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, where the woman’s remains were found.

The family told the court that they were devastated, not only by the nature of the brutal crime but by the family’s role in recovering Haimraj’s remains. After murdering Haimraj, Nowrang dismembered the dumped parts of the woman’s body in Westchester Creek adjacent to Ferry Point Park. Some of the remains later washed up in nearby Castle Hill Park during low tide where the woman’s relatives found them.

A jury took just over an hour last year to convict Nowrang of the grisly murder even as he continued to deny involvement.

The jury also heard that the murder was the culmination of a long history of incidents of domestic violence at the couple’s Story Avenue, Soundview, Bronx residence.

Family members had become concerned about Haimraj because of her absence from her job and because she could not be reached, a News Day report said.