Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo, 51, was found guilty of murder after storming into ex-wife Sana Muhammad’s house and shooting her with a crossbow (Picture: CPS/PA Wire)

A man has been found guilty of murder for shooting his heavily pregnant ex-wife dead with a crossbow after planning her execution for more than three years.

Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo, 51, stormed into ex-wife Sana Muhammad’s home and fired a crossbow at her stomach as she fled upstairs.

The 18-inch hunting bolt pierced her heart but ‘miraculously missed’ her unborn child who survived following an emergency caesarean section.

Unmathallegadoo showed no trace of emotion as Judge Mark Lucraft told him: ‘You have been convicted of a most horrendous crime.’


His first trial was halted in April after it emerged one of the jurors trying the killer had been ‘making diagnoses of a psychiatric kind’.



The couple’s marriage had been arranged when Mrs Muhammad, 34 – formerly known as Devi Unmathallegadoo – was just 15.

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It ended in 2012 and Mrs Muhammad began a relationship with builder Imtiaz Muhammad who she went on to marry.

As his ex-wife moved in with her new partner, Unmathallegadoo’s hated ‘grew and festered’ and he began plotting his revenge and watching the house.

Nests of weapons – including crossbows, harpoon spears and kitchen knives – he had left in foliage near the couple’s house were discovered by neighbours and turned into the police twice.

However, each time he ‘replaced his cache with fresh weapons’ and by 12 November last year he had bought another two crossbows, bolts, a hammer, a knife in a homemade sheath, cable ties and duct tape.

Prosecutor Richard Horwell QC said: ‘Some take revenge instantly, others take their time, time for the hatred to grow and fester.

‘There can be no doubt the defendant took his time, several years, before killing the woman who used to be his wife.’

Unmathallegadoo ‘miraculously missed’ his pregnant ex-wife’s unborn child (Picture: PA)

Mrs Muhammad was a mother of five (Picture: PA)

Speaking of the moment of the moment Mrs Muhammad lost her life, Mr Horwell said: ‘Imtiaz ran from the shed to the house pursued by the defendant.

‘Imtiaz then ran through the back door which led to the kitchen, shouting for Devi, who was in the kitchen, to run.

‘The two ran from the kitchen into the hallway which led to the front door, with the defendant in close pursuit.

‘Devi turned left and ran up the stairs, whereas Imtiaz ran out of the front door.

‘When outside, Imtiaz turned and saw the defendant, who was now at the bottom of the stairs, shoot Devi who was halfway up the stairs.

‘The defendant, who had been spending an increasing amount of time watching the house and recording the movements of the occupants and approaching and talking to his children, must have been aware of her advanced pregnancy.

The injuries caused by the crossbow bolt (Picture: Central News)

The 18-inch hunting bolt pierced Mrs Muhammad’s heart and sent her into cardiac arrest (Picture: PA)

‘This attack was deliberately designed to take place before Devi had given birth to her child.’

Mrs Muhammad suffered a cardiac arrest due to the ‘extent of her injuries and the loss of blood and the shock to her system’, the prosecutor said.

After his arrest, Unmathallegadoo interrupted officers to claim: ‘I didn’t shoot her I was shooting Imtiaz’.



When he was told he had shot his ex-wife and narrowly avoided killing her unborn baby he remarked: ‘Well that’s unfortunate’.

The moment after he heard his ex-wife had died, he replied: ‘Oh no’, and ‘put his hand on his forehead’.

Mr Horwell added: ‘We suggest that was not a genuine expression of regret.

It was said in court that his hated for his ex ‘grew and festered’ over time (Picture: PA)

One of the crossbows owned by Unmathallegadoo (Picture: PA/CPS)

‘He had collected and put together the necessary equipment to terrorise and hold captive his intended targets.

‘It was a cold-blooded execution by a man who had a resolute desire for revenge and who had been consumed by hatred for a former wife who had left him for another man.’

Unmathallegadoo told the court that he only went to their home to ‘confront Imtiaz’ about him supposedly ‘forcing’ his daughter to live as a Muslim.

He said he didn’t intend to shoot his ex-wife and had brought the weapons along with him as a ‘deterrent’ so he would not be attacked by Mr Muhammad who he was ‘scared’ of.

He claimed he accidentally pulled the trigger while aiming for the banister to ‘startle’ the pair.

Describing how his ‘hand was already on the trigger’ as he maneuvered the weapon to see whether the safety catch was engaged, he said: ‘While I was doing that movement, my finger was on it and it just went.

The garden shed where Unmathallegadoo hid before shooting his heavily pregnant ex-wife (Picture: PA)

‘I can’t explain it. It just went; it discharged.’

He added: ‘I came to this trial not because I wanted to get the truth out of my chest. I know where I’m gonna end up.


‘I will live with the tragedy all my life but I will go down with the truth.

‘No one here knows completely exactly what happened except me.’

He added: ‘At that time it was difficult for me because I was still wrestling with my thoughts and I was in such a state, I was traumatised.

‘I’m normally a very calm person but inside my mind there’s a torment.’

Unmathallegadoo denied murder but was convicted by the jury.

He was remanded in custody ahead of sentence on Friday 29 November.

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