Derek Achong
Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A 47-year-old woman from La Romain, whose abusive husband was killed by her co-worker after she told him (the co-worker) of her plight, has been freed.
Rasha Sobrian, of Rambert Village, La Romain, was told that she had already completed her sentence on remand as she and her former co-worker Rowan Campbell were sentenced for manslaughter by High Court Judge Devan Rampersad on Monday.
Campbell is expected to be released from prison when he completes his sentence in one year and nine months time.
Sobrian and Campbell spent almost 16 years on remand for Lester Sobrian’s murder before they were recently allowed to plead guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter based on a plea agreement with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), negotiated by their attorneys.
Lester was killed on March 15, 2008.
Campbell allegedly met her husband, who she had two children with, hours before his eventual death when he gave her drop home in his car.
Hours earlier, Lester reportedly argued with Sobrian’s teenage daughter from a previous relationship and slapped her six times before being led away by relatives, who lived nearby.
Campbell allegedly invited Lester to accompany him to a bar in Fyzabad to have some drinks and he agreed.
While at the bar, Lester reportedly made a series of racist remarks towards Campbell and the duo had a brief scuffle.
However, they continued drinking and eventually left together.
Hours later, Lester’s body was found in the road near the bar.
When he was arrested by police, Campbell claimed that while he and a heavily intoxicated Lester were walking to his car, Lester repeated the racist remarks leading to another scuffle.
During the exchange, he slit Lester’s throat with a knife.
He admitted that he took Lester’s wallet and threw it away along with the knife on his way home.
He also claimed that while dropping Sobrian home the previous evening, she allegedly told him about the physical abuse she suffered from her husband and requested his assistance in addressing the situation.
In deciding on the appropriate sentence for the duo, Justice Rampersad accepted the starting sentences of 28 years for Campbell and 24 years for Sobrian that were suggested in their plea agreements.
In her mitigation plea, Sobrian’s lawyer Michelle Ali, of the Public Defenders’ Department (PDD), suggested that her starting sentence was lower as she never requested that Campbell kill her husband when he confided in him about the domestic violence she endured.
Justice Rampersad applied a one-year discount to her sentence based on her remorse and her participation in rehabilitation programmes while on remand.
He then applied one-third discounts based on their guilty pleas and deducted the time they spent on remand.
Sobrian spent almost seven months less than Campbell in prison as she was released on $200,000 bail in July, last year.
As part of his sentence, Justice Rampersad placed her on three years probation to encourage the rebuilding of relationships with her family members.
Sobrian was also represented by Janeil Chuck, while Larry Williams and Toni Roberts represented Campbell.
