A 48-year-old man from Williamsville, who admitted to stabbing his estranged wife to death after he caught her having sex with a former partner, will be released from prison in a little over three years.
Roger Sewlal was awaiting trial for murder for almost a decade before he was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter based on provocation in July, last year.
Sewlal was informed of his remaining prison term as he was sentenced by High Court Judge Hayden St Clair-Douglas yesterday morning.
Sewlal was accused of killing his wife Shanti on October 1, 2012.
His wife and their two children, ages 12 and nine, lived in an apartment at Esmeralda Branch Road in Williamsville which was adjoined to an apartment shared by her parents.
Several months before her eventual death, Sewlal caught his wife having sex with a man, who she had a relationship with before her parents arranged for them to be married.
The man later admitted that they rekindled their relationship ten years into her marriage and they frequently had sex in the couple’s home when Sewlal was at work. He also confessed that he visited her shortly before she was attacked and they kissed.
After Sewlal found out about her extra-marital affair, she obtained a protection order against him and he moved out.
The couple’s children were at home with their mother and grandparents when Sewlal entered the bedroom his wife was in and locked the door behind him.
The couple argued before he held her down and stabbed her several times.
She managed to run to the garage area when she collapsed and died with the knife stuck inside her chest. Sewlal then ran away.
He managed to evade the police for almost two years before he was eventually arrested by officers of the South Western Division Task Force (SWDTF) at the Vessigny Beach Facility in January 2015.
He did not resist when he was apprehended as he told the officers he was relieved to have been caught.
“I fed up run and living like this, you wouldn’t believe how I glad yuh hold me,” he reportedly said.
In their mitigation plea, Sewlal’s lawyers led by Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj suggested that Justice St Clair-Douglas should begin with a starting sentence of 16 years based on the circumstances of the case.
They claimed that moments before he attacked his wife, she told him that he was not the father of her children.
They referred to a psychiatric evaluation performed by psychiatrist Professor Gerard Hutchinson, who stated that Sewlal was acting out of a loss of self-control as he observed his wife and her lover in the presence of his children before he entered the apartment.
While they noted that gender-based and domestic violence are serious issues locally, they pointed out that mental health issues leading to such should not be overlooked.
“Infidelity and its psychological impact have notably been considered as an issue which leads to the deterioration of one’s mental health,” they said.
“Consequently, this leads to extreme emotional and psychological responses, as seen in the instant case,” they added.
Justice St Clair-Douglas decided to begin with a starting sentence of 20 years before he applied a one-third discount for his guilty plea and deducted the time he spent on remand after his arrest.
Sewlal was also represented by Michael Rooplal, while Maria Lyons-Edwards prosecuted the case.
