Judge says attack due to love for ‘cheating’ spouse

A GUYANESE man who stabbed his wife 21 times and then threw hot oil in her face, has been given only seven years in jail after the judge said there were mitigating circumstances.

Marvin Harmon, 35, of Bush Hall, St Michael, admitted unlawfully killing his wife Roseanna on October 13, 2007. Harmon had earlier rejected a murder charge. The attack reportedly happened after years of abuse from his wife, who was allegedly cheating on him.

The court heard that on several occasions Harmon had discovered his wife was cheating. “When he discovered she was in a relationship with another man, he spoke to her. He didn’t hit her, he didn’t quarrel; he just asked her to keep the relationship going,” Harmon’s Attorney Desmond Sands told the court.

He said on one occasion Harmon had to suffer the indignity and embarrassment of being dragged behind a car driven by his wife’s lover while he held on and pleaded for her to come back, according to Guyana’s Stabroek News.

“There was another incident, on Father’s Day, when he saw his wife in [the man’s] car on Fairchild Street. He was saying, ‘Gimme my wife’. And when the car sped off, he ran behind it, saying, ‘Bring back my wife, bring back my wife’, much to the amusement of onlookers,” said Sands.

ATTACK

The attorney also said that Harmon’s wife threatened and attacked him with a knife just before the killing, telling him: “Today is going to be a black day,” and “If you want to done it, we gine done it. I in the mood.”

Justice Kaye Goodridge told the court that she considered mitigating factors, including the lack of premeditation in the attack, many instances of provocation, Harmon’s guilty plea, his clean record and his genuine remorse.

These, she said, far outweighed the aggravating factors.

“My assessment of you is that you truly regret the situation in which you found yourself.

A situation which was caused, perhaps, by your unconditional love for your wife,” she said.