Wazim Perreira was on Monday sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment for the murder of his reputed wife, who died shortly after she had been set on fire at her Sophia, Greater Georgetown home in 2019.
This former Sophia resident had pleaded guilty to murdering 24-year-old Olivia DeFreitas, the mother of his two children when he was arraigned before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall at the Demerara High Court.
Reports are that at approximately 13:00h on September 10, 2019, Perreira, 31, visited DeFreitas’s home and requested to speak with her.
However, when the woman refused to entertain his request, he went away but returned shortly after with a container containing gasoline, which he threw on the woman and set her afire.
As the woman’s loud screams rang out, neighbours ran to her rescue and rushed her to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where she was admitted and treated for second-degree burns to her face, chest, abdomen, and back.
She, however, succumbed to her injuries a month later. When DeFreitas was admitted to the hospital, Perreira had been charged with an attempt to commit murder. However, the charge against him was upgraded to murder after her passing.
Judge Morris-Ramall directed the prison service to subtract from the 19-year jail term whatever time this killer has spent on remand awaiting trial.
