The mother of eight-year-old Emmanuel King, who was strangled to death in February 2016, on Tuesday confessed to the crime before Justice Navindra Singh when she made her appearance at the Demerara High Court.
Sonia King, formerly of Lot 565 Parfait Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD), opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, though initially being slapped with a murder charge.
The indictment against King detailed that on February 21, 2016, in the county of Demerara, she killed Emmanuel King.
Justice Singh accepted the plea of the accused and afterwards ordered that a probation report be prepared and presented in court on July 16 when King is expected to be sentenced.
The facts presented by State Prosecutor Teriq Mohammed stated that on the day in question, King (Sonia) placed a sheet over her now dead son’s head and strangled him to death. He further stated that a post-mortem examination (PME) performed on the child’s body revealed that he died from asphyxiation (suffocation).
The state’s case was led by Prosecutor Mohammed in association with Sarah Martin and Tuanna Hardy, while the now convicted King was represented by Attorney Mark Conway.
Reports are that King initially claimed that the child fell from a guava tree during the afternoon of February 21 after which he retired to bed. At about 22:00h, the mother had claimed that she went to check on the child but found him in a motionless state.
He was taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. However, she later confessed that she killed the child due to frustration, saying that she took a bed sheet and choked the child to death while he was sleeping.
After the incident, King reportedly confessed to her husband to killing the child. She was arrested after confessing to investigators.
