Appeal Court reserves judgment on death row inmate for wife’s murder

The Guyana Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in an appeal by convicted wife killer Rupert Brown against a death sentence imposed on him for the May 29, 2011 murder of his wife Seema Singh.

Among other things, Brown, also known as “Bird”, is contending that trial judge Brassington Reynolds made several errors during the trial proceedings, which renders his conviction unsafe. In the circumstances, he is asking that his conviction and sentence be set aside.
Justice Brassington Reynolds had imposed the death sentence on Brown after a 12-member jury had found him guilty of murdering his wife when a trial ended in October 2014. Following a brief hearing on Thursday, the Court, led by Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, announced that notices would be sent to the parties when the decision is ready.
Seema Singh, a mother of two, was brutally murdered at Helena Number One Village, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD). According to reports, Singh, who hailed from Richmond, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supernaam), was stabbed multiple times about her body.

It was reported that Brown became enraged after the woman had left their Mahaica residence to visit her children in Essequibo. The woman had promised to return within a certain time, but when she did not, Brown had gone in search of her.
The man had eventually caught up with his wife at a relative’s house at Mahaica, where she had sought refuge. It was reported that Brown had pleaded with the woman to return home, and when she refused to do so, had stabbed her several times about the body.
The injured woman was rushed to the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she succumbed.
During his trial, Brown had given an unsworn statement from the prisoner’s dock, in which he denied attacking and killing his spouse. He claimed he had gone to visit his wife on the day in question and had found her lying in bed in a pool of blood. (G1)