Crossbow killer only wanted to confront ex-wife's new partner

Tuesday 16th April 2019 16:16 EDT
 

A man who shot his pregnant ex-wife with a crossbow claims he had only wanted to confront her new partner about allegedly forcing his daughter to live as a Muslim. Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo, 51, killed 35-year-old Devi Unmathallegadoo at the home she shared with her husband on the morning of November 12 last year. Their arranged marriage had broken down in 2012 and she had since married builder Imtiaz Muhammad.

Unmathallegadoo, a former site manager at Newham General Hospital, allegedly became obsessed with getting revenge on the pair, and built up a cache of weapons costing thousands of pounds, even though he had been sleeping rough after losing his job. He spent the night before the attack sleeping in the victim's garden shed, armed with two new crossbows, bolts, a hammer and a knife in a homemade sheath.

The defendant shot the pregnant women through the abdomen as she attempted to flee upstairs at the family home in Ilford, East London. She suffered catastrophic internal injuries and died a short while later, but her unborn son was delivered by emergency caesarean section and survived.

But in his evidence, Unmathallegadoo claimed he had only wanted to confront Mr Muhammad for allegedly forcing his 12-year-old daughter with his ex-wife to live as a Muslim. 

Unmathallegadoo explained how he had spent more than two hours hoisting all his equipment over three garden fences and into the victim's garden shed on the evening before the killing. He denied stockpiling weapons with the intention of killing his former partner, claiming that he had bought them to take back to his native Mauritius so he could go hunting with his brother. He claimed Mr Muhammad had prevented his daughter from celebrating Halloween or Christmas, and that he had confiscated a mobile phone he had given her.

The court heard Unmathallegadoo was barred from contacting his children by a restraining order, but claimed he had spoken to his daughter on her way to school. The defendant told the court how he felt about his wife having two more children with Mr Muhammad, and her pregnancy.

He said both Mr Muhammad and the victim had tried to run upstairs and that he had been aiming the crossbow into the wooden railing of the bannisters to make a loud noise and scare the couple. The trial continues.


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