For the unlawful killing of her eight-year-old son, whom she strangled with a bedsheet, Sonia King yesterday received a 20-year-sentence from Justice Navindra Singh before whom she appeared at the Georgetown High Court.
“I don’t know what really come over me,” the woman told the judge, who sought to ascertain from her what exactly transpired on February 21st, 2016, when Emmanuel King lost his life at her hands.
Emphasising that the deceased was her son and that she was supposed to have protected him, Justice Singh enquired from her how the court could be sure that whatever came over her won’t come over her again.
The woman offered no response to this question, but repeatedly said that she was sorry for her actions, while adding that she was hurting from what she had done.
She then begged the judge for mercy, while stating that she wanted to have a second chance. “He was only eight years old and defenceless,” Justice Singh stressed, before informing that having considered all the circumstances of the case, King would be sentenced to 20 years behind bars. He also explained that the time she has spent on remand awaiting trial would be deducted from the sentence.
Attorney Mark Conway, who represented the woman, told the court that she had a “troubled upbringing” and is currently under psychiatric care. In mitigation, he had asked the judge to take into consideration her early plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter.
King had originally been charged with murder, but threw herself at the mercy of the court last month, while admitting to unlawfully killing the child.
Her sentencing had, however, been deferred to facilitate the preparation of a probation report, which was submitted to the judge and attorneys on both sides, but not read out in court.
Calling on the judge to impose a sentence which he said would reflect the nature and gravity of the offence, Prosecutor Teriq Mohamed said that Emmanuel died at the hands of his own mother, who placed a sheet over him and strangled him.
He said that the entire incident has left the family still distraught, especially the child’s father. “The child was robbed of a future,” the prosecutor noted.
Prosecutor Mohamed had previously told the court that the offender, in a caution statement, admitted that “Ah jus’ holding him down. Me son was kicking up wid his foot. Ah hold de sheet there until he stop moving an then ah go an call Robert an tell he a kill Emmanuel.”
It would later be confirmed by the pathologist that Emmanuel died of asphyxiation.
King was arrested after she reportedly confessed to the child’s father that she strangled the boy with a bed sheet because he was being “wicked” and wasn’t taking his school work seriously.
