Numa Gautum sentenced to three years prison for killing husband

A woman sobbed inconsolably as she was sentenced for fatally stabbing her husband in his armpit with a pair of kitchen scissors.

A woman who fatally stabbed her husband with kitchen scissors after he wounded her with the same weapon has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Guma Nautam did not intend to kill her husband Santosh, but nicked an artery when she plunged a pair of kitchen scissors into his armpit in Granville in November 2019, a court has been told.

Seconds earlier, he had stabbed her in the thigh with the same weapon as they fought over money.

The Nepalese woman was at times inconsolable as she was sentenced to three years in prison with a non-parole period of two years in the District Court on Thursday, her 36th birthday.

“I’ve lost everything,” she said, sobbing into her hands from a small room in Dillwynia women’s prison.

Numa Gautam pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her husband Santosh. Picture: Facebook

Gautam pleaded guilty in June to the manslaughter of Santosh, who she met two days before their arranged marriage in 2007.

The 34-year-old mechanic had a drinking problem and was “sexually abusive”, Judge Leonie Flannery said, frequently arriving home drunk in the early hours and demanding sex from his wife, who felt she could not protest or refuse.

“Sexual intercourse was generally painful and unprotected,” Judge Flannery said.

“He refused to wear condoms and as her knowledge of contraception was limited, she got pregnant five times.”

Gautam wanted to have a baby, the judge said, but the couple could not afford it, and she had five abortions.

On a Saturday November 23, 2019, Santosh arrived home in the evening after being out for the entirety of Friday night.

When Gautam discovered he had spent $2000, the couple began to argue. The fight turned physical and Santosh was seen pulling his wife’s hair and holding a large rock, which he discarded, the judge said.

He then stabbed his wife once in the thigh with kitchen scissors, leaving a cut about 2cm wide and 2cm deep.

The woman did not intend to kill her husband or cause grievous bodily harm, the judge said.

Gautam yelled “motherf**ker” in Nepalese before grabbing the scissors and stabbing Santosh in the armpit, where the blade penetrated 4cm and perforated his brachial artery, causing massive, fatal blood loss.

“But for the fact that the scissors had entered a few centimetres to the left or right, we wouldn’t be here today,” her barrister Pauline David told the court.

Gautam took “some time” to dial triple-0 and initially denied stabbing her husband, the court was told.

Later, the judge said, “she said that she never intended to kill him, she just wanted to scare him away”.

Judge Flannery said Gautam’s remorse was genuine and her mental health problems had contributed to her offending.

She had no criminal record and excellent prospects of rehabilitation, the judge found.

The woman told the court her husband was her “first love” and she had always tried her best to give him a better life.

“I know he was a bit hard, but I always believed he would change one day,” she said. “I never left him.”

She remains in Australia on a criminal justice visa and is expected to be deported to Nepal upon her release.

She told the court that she would be shunned and potentially abused for her crime upon returning to Nepal and could not live with her family there for fear the condemnation would extend to them.

“Because of the case I am scared to go to there now,” she said. “It’s not going to be easy for me.”

She will be eligible for parole in November.

Originally published as Numa Gautum sentenced to three years prison for killing husband