Georgetown: Justice Sandil Kissoon on Thursday imposed the death penalty on Hemwattie Abdulla, 42, of Ozone Park, Queens, New York, and Surojni Permaul, 48, Belvedere Settlement, Corentyne.
The judge handed down the ruling at the Berbice Assizes on Thursday afternoon, after noting that the killing of Abdool Shakeel Majid was well planned, and not a spur-of-the-moment thing.
Majid and Abdulla, his wife of four months, arrived in Guyana on April 22, 2012 with the intention of spending a two-week vacation.
Five days later, however, his battered, lifeless body, minus the scalp, was found on a popular Corentyne beach, while his wife, who has been named the Number One accused, boarded a plane and headed back to their Queens home.
In rehashing the evidence, the judge noted that the course of conduct involved cross- border communication between the two convicted women, whose single objective was to bring death to the victim.
He said, “The Number One accused was not willing to contemplate such conduct in her adoptive place, in the United States of America, but instead involved the Number Two accused, her neighbour from Belvedere Village, Corentyne, whose purpose was to kill the deceased.”
Continuing with his summation, Justice Kissoon said: “Abdulla entrusted US$5000 to Permaul, who gave [it to] Pooran Jaundoo, her son-in-law, who is the husband of Urmilla Devi Persaud. The deceased, at the end of the day, was taken to [the] Number 63 Beach, where he was murdered.”
Quoting a saying made popular back in the days, Justice Kissoon said, “But for a few pieces of silver, which in this case was US$5,000, Permaul permitted herself and family to be used as instruments.
“In addition, this Court had been privileged to evidence, which was not permitted before the jury because of the objections of Defence Counsel. However, it must be noted that Urmilla Devi Persaud, the daughter of the Number Two accused, was found to be in possession of the wedding ring belonging to the now dead man.
“Further, the victim was involved in an accident in the USA, and may or may not have received a financial award. We can only speculate if that was the reason for his killing.”
Preparatory to making his decision known, Justice Kissoon said it is the mandate of the court to impose a sentence which will reflect a civilised society, even as he signalled to the Court Marshal who recited the death penalty. The prosecution case was that around 07:40 hrs on April 27, the body of a man was found with his scalp missing and other injuries to his body on the No. 56 Village, Corentyne foreshore.
The remains were only identified on May 16, 2012 when a brother visited Guyana after becoming suspicious about the wife’s behaviour.
Majid who was a former New York taxi driver was murdered shortly after he arrived in Guyana for one of his many visits. The victim and Abdulla got married in December 2011. After the marriage, the woman reportedly made frequent visits to Guyana.
On April 22, the couple visited Guyana for a holiday, and on April 25, Majid and his wife travelled to Berbice in a car that the victim often rented.
His relatives did not hear from him again and during the interim, the wife returned to the United States. The brother in the meanwhile had made a missing person report and had informed the NYPD. He was advised to visit Guyana where a report at the Eve Leary Police Station, but there was no missing person report in Guyana.
Police were able to crack the case after the woman, who had returned to the United States after the man went missing, returned to Guyana from the United States and reported to the New Amsterdam Police Station to identify her slain husband’s body after he was found.
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