Rupert Browne had moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge a death sentence imposed on him for the May 29, 2011 murder of his wife Seema Singh.
Following a trial at the Demerara High Court in 2014, a jury found Browne called “Bird Man” guilty of the offence. Justice Brassington Reynolds then sentenced the convicted killer to death by hanging.
Today, the Appeal Court commuted the sentence to 25 years. It also ruled that time already spent in custody will be deducted.
Singh, a mother of two, was brutally murdered at Helena Number One Village, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara. According to reports, Singh, who hailed from Richmond, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), was stabbed multiple times about her body.
It was reported that Browne became enraged after the woman left their Mahaica residence to visit her children in Essequibo. The woman had promised to return within a certain time, but when she did not, Browne went in search of her. The man eventually caught up with his wife at a relative’s house in Mahaica, where she had sought refuge.
It was reported that Browne pleaded with the woman to return home, and when she said no, he stabbed her several times about the body. The injured woman was rushed to the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital but was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she succumbed.
