Hemel Hempstead woman jailed for 16 years for the murder of her 2-year-old

A Hertfordshire woman has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter.

Shilyrand Charigwati, 30, suffocated her daughter Roselyn with a plastic bag over her head at the flat she lived on Juniper Square, in Hemel Hempstead, on April 14 last year.

Sentencing her, Mrs Justice Williams said there had been a number of both aggravating and mitigating factors in this case, but that the former outweighed the latter.

Mrs Justice Williams said "I accept that you suffered from a mental disorder", but indicated that she displayed "spousal revenge".

She described a huge amount of bitterness towards Washington, Charigwati's ex-partner and Roselyn's father, who had custody of her.

At the time of her killing, Roselyn was in the care of her mother, due to be picked up by her father that same evening. The judge said she "felt intense pain and fury at the thought of returning her to Washington."

She added that there was "no expression of remorse from Charigwati in multiple interviews with psychiatrists."

At the start of her trial, Charigwati pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied a charge of murder, which she was found guilty of by a jury earlier this month.

During the trial, John Price KC detailed the moment Charigwati dialled 112 and repeatedly refused to listen a medic's advice to go back into the bedroom in which her daughter Roselyn laid to help her breathe.

That same afternoon, she called Roselyn's father three times, who had custody of their daughter and who was expected to pick her back up after a stay at her mother's.

The plastic bag in question was found in another bedroom, blood stained. A forensic profile extracted from the plastic bag matched Roselyn's DNA.

The trial saw evidence from three psychiatrists, whose assessments detailed Charigwati suffered from a mild to moderate degree of depressive illness.

Defending, Ms Zoe Johnson KC argued Charigwati was susceptible to suffering from depression.

She further argued against the prosecution's suggestion of a substantial degree of premeditation, saying "the evidence appears to be the murder of Roselyn did occur in the context of a nappy change and the evidence tends to support that proposition, therefore our submission is that there is no evidence of planning."

Delivering an emotional victim impact statement, Roselyn’s father, Washington, said: "The crime miss Charigwati committed didn’t just end her life, but tore apart my family."

He described his daughter as his 'little best friend', his 'light' and his 'reason', saying that "the house would be full of laughter" and has since "suddenly gone quiet".

He said he would now miss her birthdays, graduation and wedding day.

Charigwati sat impassively as she listened to his statement, looking ahead, with a full public gallery to her right.

As she was handed her life sentence for murder and asked to leave the dock, she looked at the family and raised her eyebrows.

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