Five years after he killed his wife, fisherman, Budram Persaud was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the High Court yesterday.
Persaud, 39, called ‘David’ was charged with the murder of his wife, Rubeena Sammy. The incident occurred on June 16, 2006 at their home at Riverview, Unity, Mahaica. After a preliminary inquiry in the magistrate’s court, Persaud was committed to stand trial in the High Court and the matter commenced before Justice Winston Patterson. Persaud pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in jail yesterday.
On June 15, 2006, Persaud and Sammy, who was 35 years, had visited his “rahki sister” at Belmont, Mahaica where all three of them were drinking high wine. Persaud later went home while his wife remained. When it got late, Sammy said she was afraid and the “rahki sister” called ‘Manzo’ invited her to stay the night. Around midnight, Persaud returned to the house for his wife and they went home together. Around 1:30am on June 16, 2006, a neighbour, Shaneeza Ross said she was awakened by noise coming from Persaud’s home and she looked through a crease in her wall. Because it was a moon-lit night, she was able to see clearly and she saw that Persaud had his wife in the trench and was compelling her to dig the mud and eat it.
While Sammy protested, Persaud insisted that she had to eat the mud.
After this, Persaud pulled his wife out of the trench and as they headed back towards the house, he kept pushing her down. This occurred several times. Persaud then picked up a piece of wood and began hitting Sammy as she lay on the ground groaning. Ross said that she shouted to him to leave Sammy alone but he continued hitting her.
Persaud then dragged his wife to the back of the yard and pulled a piece of wood from a washstand and continued beating her before taking water from a barrel and pouring it over her saying “Rubeena yuh going down slow girl.”
Persaud, who was using expletives, then dragged Sammy to the front of the house and onto the verandah where he tried to set her on fire but failed. He then dragged Sammy into the house and closed the door. At 5 am, he left for work.
After he left, Ross went over to the house and contacted police from the Mahaica Police Station who went to the scene. Sammy was motionless and had marks of violence over her entire body. She was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
An autopsy was done by Dr. Nehaul Singh and he found that Sammy sustained 28 abrasions, 22 contusions, several lacerations and she had a fractured skull. The cause of death was given as subdural hemorrhage due to the fractured skull and multiple blunt trauma. He found that her stomach also contained mud.
Persaud was arrested and gave a written caution statement in which he expressed remorse. He showed police the pieces of wood he used. The couple had nine children: six girls and three boys.
In the High Court, the state was represented by attorneys-at-law, Judith Gildharie-Mursalin and Teshana James-Lake. Persaud was represented by attorney-at-law, Peter Hugh.
Hugh, in a mitigation plea, begged for leniency and said that the problem came about because when Persaud was at sea for long periods, Sammy was not sending the children to school.
Before sentencing, Justice Patterson told Persaud that even if his wife was not sending the children to school that couldn’t be the way to handle it. The judge pointed out that Persaud was mostly at sea and the little time he had with his family, instead of bringing the family together, he was drinking alcohol and encouraging his wife to drink with him.
When asked, Persaud said that his oldest child is 21 and the youngest is seven years and they are now in the care of their paternal grandmother, who is very ill.
Justice Patterson said that he was very troubled that when these matters come up before him because it is the children that suffer the most. He noted that the mother is gone for good and the father is partly gone.
The Judge told Persaud that the only thing saving him from decades behind bars is the fact that he cannot go against the principles of sentencing and the factors in Persaud’s favour. The judge cited the five years Persaud has already spent behind bars and for pleading guilty and not wasting the court’s time. He also noted that as soon as sobriety stepped in, Persaud showed remorse. Intoxication is no defence, the judge stressed.
