Yahoo News Man accused of killing pregnant ex-wife with crossbow to face trial next year
The man accused of killing his pregnant ex-wife with a crossbow will face trial for her murder next year.
Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo, 50, of no fixed abode, has been charged with the murder of 35-year-old Sana Muhammad.
The victim, formerly known as Devi Unmathallegadoo before her remarriage, was eight months pregnant when she was attacked at her home in Applegarth Drive in Newbury Park, Ilford, on Monday.
After she was fatally injured, medics managed to deliver her son in hospital.
The defendant appeared at the Old Bailey before Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC via video link from Pentonville prison on Thursday.
He wore a grey sweatshirt, jeans and spectacles, and had unkempt black hair.
MORE: Saudi Arabia seeks death penalty for five suspects charged with the killing of Jamal Khashoggi
MORE: Health Secretary ‘told Brexit crunch Cabinet he could not guarantee people wouldn’t die under no deal’
He spoke only to confirm his name, age and British nationality.
Unmathallegadoo, who previously lived in Applegarth Drive, sat with his hands in his lap and stared straight ahead throughout the briefing hearing on Thursday.
The judge set a timetable for the case with a plea hearing on February 6 and a provisional trial from April 8.
The trial is expected to go on at the Old Bailey for up to two weeks.
The defendant was remanded into custody.
Mrs Muhammad’s husband, Imtiaz Muhammad, told the Evening Standard that his wife was shot in front of her five other children, aged between one and 17, after he found her killer hiding in their garden shed.
The 42-year-old told the newspaper: ‘I went to put a cardboard box in the shed. He was there with the crossbow loaded.
‘He stared at me, he was going to shoot so I ran into the house. My wife was doing the washing up, I was shouting ‘run’ ‘run’ ‘run’.
‘He shot her. I can’t help thinking she took my arrow. Maybe it should have hit me. The kids were all there, it was horrific.
