Husband charged with Juliet’s murder

LOOKING QUITE CALM, labourer Sean Marcellin, 34, appeared before a San Fernando Magistrate yesterday morning charged with the brutal stabbing murder of his wife, Juliet Victoria Gonzales Cummings, a mother of four, who was laid to rest on Wednesday.

Throughout his brief court appearance, Marcellin maintained a somewhat subdued demeanour even when the murder charge was read out in the First Court, presided over by Senior Magistrate Mark Wellington. Marcellin is charged with last Saturday’s murder of his wife at the Princes Town maxi-taxi hub. An autopsy carried out on Cummings’ body revealed she had been stabbed multiple times and her throat was slit. Marcellin was not called on to enter a plea since the charge was laid indictably. If found guilty, Marcellin could face the death penalty. He was represented in court yesterday by attorney Chateram Sinanan.

After the charge was read out in court, Magistrate Wellington adjourned the case to Monday August 18 and transferred the case to the Princes Town Magistrate’s Court. After the case was adjourned, Marcellin’s attorney told Newsday that at the next calling of the case he would request the court’s permission to have his client evaluated by a professional psychiatrist. Sinanan said he came to this decision after speaking briefly with his client. Cummings was laid to rest following an emotional funeral service at the New Grant Presbyterian Church on Wednesday.