Appeal Court slashes killer mom’s sentence from 98 to 30 years

Hosfosuwa Amena Rutherford, who was first given a 98-year prison term for fatally poisoning her two young children, has had her jail time reduced to 30 years by the Court of Appeal of Guyana.

Following a trial before Justice Navindra Singh at the Demerara High Court in 2018, 30-year-old Rutherford was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter for the killing of her four-year-old daughter Hodascia Cadogan and her one-year-old son Jabari Cadogan Jr.

Dead: Jabari Cadogan

For the killing of Hodascia Cadogan, she was sentenced to 45 years in jail; while for the killing of Jabari, she was ordered to serve 53 years in prison. The prison terms were ordered to be served consecutively, meaning that her cumulative sentence was 98 years.

Dead: Hodascia Cadogan

The two children died on March 27, 2014, at their East Coast Demerara (ECD) home, moments after their mother administered carbon tablets—a pesticide commonly used for killing rats—to them. Rutherford had claimed that she thought that she had given them cold medication.

Rutherford, who was herself hospitalised for some time after drinking the tablets also, had appealed the trial court’s ruling, arguing that her conviction was unsafe because Justice Singh failed to rule on the voluntariness of caution statements she had given to the Police.

She had also contended that the sentences imposed by him were excessive.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal delivered a unanimous ruling, affirming the woman’s convictions. It, however, allowed her appeal against the sentences.

The court held that the prosecution’s case was sufficiently persuasive even without the caution statements and that any jury that had been properly directed would have found Rutherford guilty even though a decision regarding the voluntariness of the statements was not made.

Furthermore, the appellate court determined that Rutherford should serve 30 years for each of the two deaths because it believed the 98-year jail sentence was disproportionate.

In addition to serving two concurrent 30-year jail terms, Rutherford was given credit for time served in pre-trial custody. She has been behind bars since 2014.

She must spend 20 years in jail before she is eligible for parole.

This appeal was decided by acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes and Rishi Persaud.

Attorney-at-Law Dexter Smartt represented Rutherford while Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (ADPP) Teshana Lake presented the State’s case.

Meanwhile, Justice Singh had questioned why the woman was indicted for the lesser count of manslaughter, since according to him, the evidence clearly pointed to murder.