Battered wife freed by Court

A MATURA woman who pleaded guilty to killing her husband Solomon Narine following years of domestic abuse, was yesterday placed on a $30,000 bond by a Port-of-Spain judge who ordered her to keep the peace for two years.

Hilary Narine, 38, of Toco Main Road, Salybia in Matura, flashed a faint smile in the prisoner’s dock at the Port-of-Spain Sixth Criminal Court, when the sentence was read by Justice Anthony Carmona.

Carmona said the problem of domestic violence against women was “appalling”, adding that he believed women were “under siege” in Trinidad and Tobago, as they were being brutally attacked and murdered.

Narine was evaluated by a psychiatrist who described her history of accumulated provocation as “Battered Wife Syndrome”, one where she was advantaged through the greater portion of her life.

The report showed Narine was angry, disturbed and distressed and that she believed the deceased would have killed her.

According to a Probation Officer’s (PO) report, Narine spoke of years of abuse, with one instance where she was dealt a heavy blow to her stomach while pregnant with their second child.

She also spoke about sustaining a broken arm when she was hit with a piece of wood while trying to shield their child. Narine was also raped during her second pregnancy, by her husband’s cousin and was raped as a student attending secondary school.

Witnesses in the area where Narine lived, also told the PO that the deceased consistently cursed and threatened his wife. Mrs Narine’s relatives said they believed that one day, he would kill her.

According to the PO report, even one of her children had said, “Mummy would not have killed daddy, if he had only stopped beating her and threatening her with a cutlass.”

On the fateful day — April 4, 2004 — when Narine chopped her husband to death while he slept, the deceased reportedly consumed a bottle of rum and returned home looking for food. He threatened her on that occasion with a knife.

State attorneys’ Nalini Singh and Candia James had no objection to a non-custodial sentence, saying they felt sending Narine to jail would be counter-productive. Narine had already spent three years in prison awaiting trial.

Carmona told Narine he has now given her the opportunity to move on with her life and take care of her children.

The judge however added that the court did not support violent retaliation as a solution to problems. “The avenue to empowerment is not through murdering your husband. There are other social means and services to help people who suffer from domestic violence,” Carmona said.

As she left court yesterday, with tears in her eyes, Narine told Newsday that her advice to other victims of domestic abuse, was that they should seek help and not take matters into their own hands. She was represented by attorney Hayden Sinclair Douglas.