Man gets 10 years for stabbing woman to death

Jul 21, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Kaieteur News – Fifty- three-year-old Raymond O’Selmo, called ‘Goadie Man’ formerly of North Sophia, Georgetown, was on Thursday sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for fatally stabbing Nadina Kalamadeen, a mother of five back in 2019.

Dead, Nadina Kalamadeen

Jailed, Raymond O’Selmo

O’Selmo was sentenced by Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Demerara High Court. He was arraigned for the capital offence but opted to plead guilty to the lesser count which is manslaughter. During the sentencing hearing, O’Selmo told the court that to this day he still cannot recall what transpired the day Nadina was killed because he was intoxicated.

Nevertheless, in his address to the court, he asked the deceased’s family to forgive him for what he has done and he also begged the court to be lenient with him when handing down his sentence. In his plea of mitigation, O’Selmo’s lawyer, Teriq Mohamed asked the court to consider that his client has opted to not waste the court’s time and pleaded guilty. He also noted that the fact that alcohol abuse was involved.

In this case the State was represented by Prosecutors Mikel Pooran, Latifah Elliot and Carissa Henry. In his address, Pooran asked the court to consider the aggravating factor which is that the attack involved the use of a weapon, namely a knife which was used to inflict six incised wounds about Nadina’s body. The Prosecutor also highlighted that the court should consider the prevalence of violence against women in Guyana and the nature of the offence.

According to the facts of the matter, on February 27, 2019, Nadina was walking on Second Street, North Sophia, Georgetown when O’Selmo approached her and attempted to hold her hand and follow her on the road.

Nadina pulled away her and the accused then took out a knife that he had in his pants waist and stabbed the woman several times about her body.

While stabbing the woman, the accused was interrupted by some passersby who yelled at him. The court heard that this caused O’Selmo to flee the crime scene but he was chased after and intercepted by public-spirited persons. He was reportedly beaten before he was handed over to the police.

According to the post-mortem examination (PME), Nadina died as a result of six incised stab wounds, to her face, neck, cheek, wrist and right and left breast. In his caution statement to the police, O’Selmo reportedly stated that on the day in question he was imbibing. It was stated that O’Selmo noted that, he saw Nadina and attempted to follow her to her destination. However, the court heard that he told the police later that he does not know what got into his head after Nadina got him upset because she did not want him to follow her.

According to the caution statement, he was drunk and could not control his passion so he pulled out his knife and chopped Nadina to the face. He told the police that after she started to scream, he stabbed her several times. O’Selmo said too that by the time he woke up he was in the hospital and heard that Nadina was dead.

The court heard that on July 6th, 1990, O’Selmo was jailed 15 years for raping a 12-year-old girl and on September 14th, 2011 he was fined for discharging a loaded firearm.

In her sentencing remarks, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry took into consideration the aggravating factors, the nature and prevalence of the offence, as well as the fact that the use of alcohol impaired the accused judgment. She was also guided by the weapon that was used and the physiological trauma caused the mother of the deceased as well as her five children, three of whom are minors. The judge took into consideration that early guilty plea and the fact that the accused is remorseful. She then sentenced O’Selmo to 10 years imprisonment and ordered that the four years he spent on remand be deducted as time served.