A third additional district and sessions court in Mangaluru, presided over by Judge Sandhya S, has handed a life sentence to a 53-year-old resident of Chethana Nagara, Kumpala, after he was convicted of assaulting, poisoning, and murdering his wife.

Public prosecutor B. Mohan Kumar identified the accused as Joseph Francis Renson, also known as Renson, while the victim was named Shyma. The postmortem findings played a pivotal role in the case. Dr. Varsha A. Shetty, Assistant Professor of Forensic Medicine at Justice K.S. Hegde Hospital, confirmed that Shyma succumbed to critical head injuries.

Despite the victim’s children initially claiming that she had ingested poison, medical reports provided decisive proof. According to the prosecution, Shyma had frequently urged her husband to abandon his harmful addictions, which led to continued mental and physical abuse.

On May 11, 2022, around 2:30 pm, an argument escalated, and Renson locked the bedroom door before slamming his wife against the wall and striking her repeatedly with a rolling pin, causing heavy bleeding. To mislead authorities, he wiped away the blood and force-fed her pesticide.

Her children rushed her to the hospital, but doctors pronounced her dead. After reviewing testimonies from 33 witnesses, the court convicted him under multiple IPC sections, imposing a life sentence and fines. The District Legal Services Authority was also directed to provide compensation to the victim’s father and children.