The jury trying a jilted husband accused of murdering his heavily pregnant ex-wife after shooting her with a crossbow was discharged Monday. Mr Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo, 51, was said to have spent more than a year gathering weapons and planning to kill Devi Unmathallegadoo, 35, who was fatally wounded at her home in Ilford, east London, on November 12.
The jury retired to consider its verdicts last Wednesday but Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC today discharged them from further deliberations for legal reasons that cannot be reported.
Unmathallegadoo, of no fixed address, will have a retrial from November 4 - which is expected to last two weeks.
He has previously claimed he took two crossbows to ex-wife Devi's house as a 'deterrent' while he confronted her new husband Imtiaz Muhammad.
Devi's parents had arranged her marriage to Unmathallegadoo when she was 16, but the relationship 'was not a happy one' and they separated in 2012. She began a relationship with Mr Muhammad, who had decorated the couple's kitchen.
At the time of her death, Devi was living with Mr Muhammad, and the two were 'eagerly expecting the imminent arrival' of their child.
Unmathallegadoo had told an Old Bailey jury he was unhappy about Mr Muhammad 'forcing' his daughter to live as a Muslim.
After being surprised while hiding in the shed, Unmathallegadoo claimed he chased Mr Muhammad through the house. He insisted one of the crossbows 'just went' as he checked the safety catch while aiming at the banister to stop Mr Muhammad as he and Devi fled upstairs.
Unmathallegadoo has told jurors he was 'horrified' at discovering he had mortally wounded Devi, by then using the Islamic married name Sana Muhammad.
But prosecutors have claimed he spent a year planning the murders of Devi, Mr Muhammad and her unborn child and amassed a terrifying cache of weapons and restraints to help him complete the 'mission'.
Jurors have heard how he meticulously jotted down the comings and goings from the home and identified the shed as an ideal vantage point to watch the house.
But rather than wait for the perfect time to strike as intended, Unmathallegadoo allegedly had to execute the plan as best he could after being disturbed.
Wielding two crossbows, jurors heard he chased Mr Muhammad into the kitchen before firing into the mother-of-five's stomach as she fled upstairs.
The 18-inch hunting bolt pierced her heart but 'miraculously missed' her unborn child who survived following an emergency caesarean section.
Unmathallegadoo denied murder and attempted child destruction, claiming he accidentally pulled the trigger while aiming for the banister to stop Mr Muhammad as he ran upstairs.
