A 33-year-old man from Barrackpore has been sentenced to hang for the brutal murders of his estranged common-law wife and their 14-month-old daughter.
The death penalty was twice read to Rishi “Cook Meat” Motilal on Monday, after he was convicted of the murders at the end of his judge-alone trial before Justice Nalini Singh.
Motilal was accused of murdering his 34-year-old common-law wife Tara Ramsaroop and their daughter Shermaya Jada Motilal on October 8, 2024.
The mother and toddler’s bodies were found at Motilal’s home. Ramsaroop had been chopped multiple times, while the baby’s throat had been slit. The couple’s older children were not at home at the time.
The violent killings came weeks after Ramsaroop obtained a protection order against Motilal.
Before being arrested, Motilal called several relatives and confessed to the murders.
He also confessed to police when he was eventually arrested. He claimed that he met Ramsaroop on the morning of the incident and they went to his house to have sex. He claimed that she told him about her new boyfriend, and that he would no longer be able to interact with their children. He admitted that he hit her on her head with a length of iron before chopping her several times. He also claimed that he killed the child as he did not want her “to suffer by nobody.”
During his trial, Motilal did not deny killing Ramsaroop and his daughter but claimed that he was provoked by Ramsaroop. He also claimed that he “blacked out” after striking Ramsaroop and could not remember chopping her and killing their child.
While being intensely cross-examined by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Dylan Martin, however, Motilal admitted that he embellished his claims over his argument with Ramsaroop in order to claim the defence, which could have resulted in him being convicted of the lesser offence of manslaughter.
Martin also highlighted several inconsistencies between his previous confessions to relatives and the police and his testimony during the trial.
In rejecting Motilal’s defence, Justice Singh found that Motilal did not lose self-control as contended.
“I find that he experienced anger, hurt, jealousy, frustration and emotional distress but that he retained the capacity for purposeful and directed action at all material times,” Justice Singh said.
She ruled that even if Motilal had been provoked, the defence could not apply to his daughter.
“Shermaya Motilal was a 14-month-old child. She said and did nothing provocative,” Justice Singh said.
She noted that the child was not killed accidentally or by a misdirected blow and her death was intended by her father.
“The deliberate use of a cutlass to the neck of a 14-month-old child admits no reasonable inference consistent with an absence of such intent,” Justice Singh said.
She also rejected his claims of him being intoxicated at the time.
“His own account demonstrates a structured and sequential recollection of events, which is inconsistent with any suggestion that he lacked the capacity to form intent,” she said.
Motilal was also charged with malicious damage for setting fire to a car owned by the mother of Ramsaroop’s new boyfriend. He pleaded guilty to the offence and Justice Singh found that he had served his sentence for that crime while on remand awaiting trial.
Motilal was represented by Stephen Wilson and Ayanna Norville-Modeste, of the Public Defenders’ Department (PDD). Josiah Soo Hon and Khi Cambridge appeared alongside Martin for the State.
