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Man who wounded ex-lover jailed for 12 years
A Corentyne man who is well known to the authorities, and was on trial for wounding his ex-lover after she spurned him, has been jailed for 12 years.
Robert Rawlings called “Bully”
Thirty-eight year-old Robert Rawlings called “Bully” of No. 79 Village, Corriverton stood before Justice Jo Ann Barlow and a mixed Jury on two counts – attempting to murder his former lover, 45-year-old Sharmilla Singh, and for wounding her with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, with intent to maim, disfigure or disable.
The incident occurred on July 3rd, 2014 at Kingston, Corriverton.
The sentence was imposed after the jury returned a not guilty verdict on the first count of attempted murder, but returned a guilty verdict on wounding with intent.
The woman had lived at Lot 1 Kilmarnock, Corentyne, Berbice, with her mother and son, before going to live with the accused.
Before the sentence was imposed on the accused, he was asked if he had anything to say. He said that he did not.
Justice Barlow then told the accused that she took into consideration that Ms. Singh has been unable to use three of the fingers on her right hand, and that the woman is right-handed. She told him the maximum sentence is life imprisonment, but she was sentencing him to 12 years in jail.
Justice Barlow advised the accused to use the time to do good things and better his life.
Sharmilla Singh in her testimony had told the court that she knew the accused for about 10 years. However they had lived together for three years, and during that time he never worked.
The woman said that in 2014, they lived at his mother’s house at Kingston Squatting Area. She said that she subsequently decided to leave him and moved on with her life. But he did not take that lightly.
On the day in question, she went to her brother-in-law’s house. She said she was in a hammock when Rawlins appeared, asking her ‘where yuh gun run to now?’ The woman recounted that he was carrying two cutlasses. He began broadsiding and chopping her about her body. She fell to the ground.
Singh said she was so afraid that she could not move or scream. The assault lasted several minutes. The man then fled the scene.
Victim: Sharmilla Singh
The injured woman got up and went to a relative. She was rushed to the Skeldon Hospital before being transferred to New Amsterdam Hospital, then to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she remained a patient for four days.
Dr Chandrawattie Lalbachan, in testimony stated that she examined Singh on the day of the incident at the Skeldon Hospital and observed that there were 11 injuries on her body including her head, back, shoulder and arm and fingers. She had lost a lot of blood.
The woman suffered some permanent disability to three fingers of her right-hand.
Detective Corporal Denzel Frank testified to receiving the report on the day in question and arresting the accused the following day in the vicinity of the station.
Rawlings had given an unsworn statement from the dock, in which he denied chopping the victim. He had stated that he was never armed with a cutlass, and he had only gone to the location to take Singh back with him, but was attacked by persons who began firing chops at him. He said he was holding Singh in front of him and that was how she got chopped.
The accused did not show much emotion after he was sentenced.
Rawlings was charged in 2012 for the murder of 50-year-old joiner Kumar Singh of Yacoob Street, Kingston, Corriverton, Berbice. He was freed after his attorney Mursaline Bacchus had submitted a no case submission. Singh was discovered dead at his home with blood oozing from his nose and scratches on his back on the morning of Wednesday August 22, 2012.
A Post Mortem examination done on the body gave the cause of death as strangulation.
Rawlings had been released from prison a week before that murder occurred.
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