A man who was on trial for murdering his wife by burning her in a pit two years ago was yesterday sentenced to death by hanging after he was found guilty of the crime at the Berbice Assizes.

Devanand Tilaknauth called `Fine boy', 35, was indicted for murder committed on Chandrawattie Ramnarine called Chandra on July 13, 2004 at Hampshire village Corentyne, Berbice.

The twelve-member jury consisting of eight men and four women deliberated for about two hours yesterday before bringing in a unanimous verdict of guilty.

According to the prosecution's case Tilaknauth suspected his wife was having an affair with a neighbour and he burnt her in a pit which he dug a week before her death in his backyard. He then started the fire in the pit on July 13 and reported his wife missing to the police on July 14 and also restarted the fire the morning before they arrived. When the police got there the afternoon of that day they saw the pit still burning. They discovered the remains of his wife in the pit. All that remained were bones. The sheet from the couple's bed and a mat is still missing and it is believed that he used kerosene, coconuts and wood to fuel the fire which he used in the pit to burn his wife.

The court was told that on the morning that Tilaknauth murdered his wife he tried to give her Pepsi to drink with a white substance at the top. When his wife noticed and asked him what it was he told her his tablet had dropped into her drink. She refused to drink it and he went off saying that he would drink it. However his wife's mother who lived with them saw him throw away the drink. When his mother-in-law came home later that day and enquired from him about her whereabouts he told her that her daughter had fallen ill and had gone to see the doctor.

A caution statement which Tilaknauth gave to the police and which he denied giving at his trial revealed that he had told police officers that on the day of the incident he and his wife were quarrelling in the backyard about the neighbour Radesh whom he suspected she was having an affair with. He stated that he was burning garbage in the pit and that he pushed his wife and she fell into the pit. He then became scared because she could not come out and he left her there and went to bathe.

The presiding judge was Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, the prosecutor was Donelle Harding and the defence counsel was Compton Richardson. (Keisha McCammon)