NATIONAL NEWS - A 64-year-old man, who turned himself over to Phoenix police and later pleaded guilty to slitting his bedridden wife’s throat, was handed down a suspended sentence at the Durban High Court, last Friday.
While passing sentence, Judge Shyam Gyanda of the Durban High Court said that after looking at all evidence and mitigating factors, the convicted killer, Nundkumaran Poonusamy Pillay, would not recommit such an offense again.
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The judge went on to say that Pillay would have to live with the guilt for the rest of his life and that there is nothing the court can do to punish him further.
Pragasen Marimuthu, Pillay’s legal aid attorney read out his plea statement, where it was revealed that the convicted killer’s wife told him that she did not want to continue living how they were living and begged her husband to kill her.
Pillay then allegedly attempted to suffocate his wife, Dhunalutchmee Naidoo. When that failed, he then went to the kitchen to grab a knife, which he used to slit her throat.
Pillay rushed to the Phoenix police station, where he confessed and then handed himself in. Police officers, together with emergency services, drove out to the man’s Landbury flat to confirm the incident.
Upon arrival, police and emergency services found an elderly woman lying on her bed in a pool of blood, with her throat slit open.
Naidoo’s body was found by emergency services and was declared dead after she showed no signs of life.
