Prosecutor pushes for hefty sentence for wife-killer

By Feona Morrison

In the case of The State vs Wazim Perreira, in which the accused has entered a guilty plea for the murder of his ex-reputed wife, the prosecution concluded their arguments on Thursday by pleading with the court to punish Perreira severely for the “cold-blooded” crime.
Wazim Perreira, a 31-year-old father of two, of Sophia, Greater Georgetown, has entered a guilty plea to a murder charge that indicts him with the 2019 killing of 24-year-old Olivia DeFreitas, the mother of his two children.
Reports are that at approximately 13:00h on September 10, 2019, Perreira visited DeFreitas’s place of abode in Sophia, Greater Georgetown, and requested to speak with her. When the woman refused to entertain his request, he went away, but returned shortly after with a container of gasoline, which he reportedly threw on the woman and set her afire.
As the woman’s loud screams rang out, neighbours ran to her rescue and rushed her to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where she was admitted and treated for second-degree burns to her face, chest, abdomen, and back. She, however, succumbed to her injuries a month later.

When DeFreitas was admitted to the hospital, Perreira had been slapped with an attempted murder charge; but after she passed away, the charge against him was upgraded to murder.
The evidence in the case unequivocally demonstrates that Perriera, by his acts, wanted to kill the woman or seriously hurt her, State Counsel Madana Rampersaud told Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall. This is “cold-blooded murder”, Rampersaud emphasised, as she added that Perriera had set the woman on fire in the presence of her then 14-year-old brother.
In describing the couple’s tumultuous relationship, the prosecutor said DeFreitas had been compelled to return home to live with her mother, following Perriera’s abuse of her.
Despite the fact that DeFreitas had spent several weeks in the hospital, Rampersaud noted that the woman’s health had always been critical, because she had 40 per cent of her body burned. Physicians had come to the conclusion that her illness might result in disfigurement and impairment, the State Counsel highlighted in her submissions to the court. In this regard, she said, Perreira’s conduct on the day in question was careless and reckless.

In light of this, she begged the court to take into account an additional set of aggravating circumstances: the seriousness and frequency of the offence, the use of a combustible material, the nature of their relationship, and the frequency of intimate partner violence and domestic violence.
Specifically, Rampersaud mentioned that more women who have left abusive relationships or have threatened to leave have been killed, and as such, a sentence that would serve as a deterrent to would-be offenders is warranted.
A probation report, meantime, revealed that the admitted murderer had a difficult upbringing, dropping out of school and taking odd jobs around his neighbourhood. He started engaging in delinquent behaviour, leading to the residents calling him “smokey”, “ill-mannered,” and “thief,” according to a probation officer.
According to the probation officer, Perreira had been previously charged with stealing and wounding, and had frequently got into verbal arguments with his partner’s family. However, those matters were settled after Perreira had compensated the victims.
Through victim impact statements, DeFreitas’s brother and mother said they miss her. Her mother reflected on the life she had shared with her daughter, and remarked that they had done everything together. “I grieve a lot for her. Her children miss her,” she said.
“I miss my sister,” DeFreitas’s brother cried. “I’m really sad. I want justice for my sister. I want Wazim Perreira to go to jail for life. Every time I think about what happened, I does get angry.”
When asked by the Judge if he had anything to say, a shackled and handcuffed Wazim Perreira replied, “I am very sorry for what I do to my family, Your Worship.” He then turned to the mother and brother of the deceased, who were seated in the courtroom, and said, “Please forgive me”.
Meanwhile, Perriera’s lawyer Adrian Thompson, in a mitigation plea, asked the court to temper justice with mercy. In so doing, he emphasized, his client ought to receive credit for his early guilty plea, the time he spent on remand, and deductions for his heartfelt declaration of regret. Given his client’s relatively young age, Thompson said, he has good prospects of being rehabilitated for reintegration into society.
Justice Morris-Ramlall will deliver her sentencing remarks next Monday, before passing a custodial sentence on this killer.