Freelance Contributor
The family of slain teacher Bhagmat Seemungal has condemned the reduced prison terms given to five men, including her husband, who pleaded guilty to her 2009 murder.
The 33-year-old mother and educator was killed in a conspiracy orchestrated by then-police constable Sunil Akaloo, who paid $20,000 to have her “frightened” so he could gain custody of their child.
Court documents detailed how Akaloo disabled locks, left gates open and provided knives for the attackers, who staged a home invasion in which Bhagmat was tied up, robbed and dragged from her home before being stabbed to death and dumped in bushes off San Louis Road, Guaico.
An alleged spiritual adviser connected Akaloo to Marlon Lee, who recruited the others. Seemungal’s belongings were later pawned and sold.
The sentences handed down on July 25 were: Akaloo—six years, one month, 27 days; Lee—two years, nine months, 27 days; Dervin David Parris—ten months, 13 days; Shervaughn Jamal Lee—two years, two months, 18 days; and Cleavon Anthony Thomas—four years, four months, 25 days. All will serve their sentences with hard labour from the date of sentencing.
Her brother, attorney and former government minister Jairam Seemungal, said, “This is not justice. This is not closure. My sister was taken from us in the most savage and calculated way. That her husband, a police officer, orchestrated her murder and now walks away with a six-year sentence is a betrayal not only of her memory but of the entire justice system.”
Bhagmat had obtained a protection order against Akaloo in 2008 and made a will leaving her estate to her daughter, fearing for her life. Her family is now calling for a review of plea bargaining laws, stronger domestic violence protections, and a national debate on how the justice system addresses intimate partner violence and contract killings.
“We will continue to speak her name,” a family member said.
“We will not let her story be forgotten or buried under legal technicalities and negotiated deals.”
