Life Sentence for Sheena Buleeram's Murderer: "Women Are Not Property of Those Who Lived with Them," Says Judge Manrakhan

On December 10, 2025, coinciding with International Human Rights Day, the Supreme Court sentenced Mamode Umaiir Nubbeebuccus to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder of his ex-wife, Sheena Buleeram. Judge Mehdi Manrakhan described the case as a "horrifying instance of femicide," one of the most severe cases reviewed by the criminal court in recent years. This verdict goes beyond a mere judicial decision; it represents a historic stance against the alarming rise of femicides in Mauritius.

A Crime of Unprecedented Brutality

The events unfolded follow a disturbingly familiar pattern: a breakup, persistent harassment, and constant surveillance. After their divorce in 2016, Sheena sought to rebuild her life, but her obsessive ex-husband secured a job at the same hotel to keep an eye on her. On November 8, 2019, the 24-year-old, who worked in the human resources department at the Le Residence hotel in Belle Mare, was kidnapped, tortured for six hours, raped, and ultimately murdered with a knife in a sugarcane field in Beau Vallon. Her captor was obsessed with the belief that she was seeing someone else.

Judge Mehdi Manrakhan did not mince words in describing this crime. In his judgment, he recounts a horrifying sequence in which the victim, after being beaten and strangled to the point of losing consciousness several times, begged her assailant not to stab her. To no avail. The forensic report by Dr. Gungadin documented no fewer than eight stab wounds to the neck, abdomen, and chest, including one that was fatal to the heart.

“Sheena Did Everything the Law Requires of a Threatened Person”

What makes this judgment particularly significant is how the court situates this crime within a broader social context. Judge Manrakhan emphatically points out that Sheena had done everything a threatened person should do: she reported the harassment to the police multiple times, including three days before her murder. Yet, she was not protected. "Her cries for help went unheard. Her pleas were ignored. Her final scream - 'don't stab' - now resonates as a devastating reminder of her vulnerability," the magistrate wrote in a poignant passage.

A Clear Message: Femicide Will Not Be Tolerated

The court explicitly refuses to view this case in isolation. It acknowledges that Mauritius is experiencing a concerning rise in violence against women, particularly from partners or ex-partners. The term "femicide" - murder motivated by gender - is used unequivocally to describe these crimes. "When a young woman, having repeatedly reported harassment and violence, is still hunted down, kidnapped, tortured, and killed because she chose to live her life freely, away from a former partner, the court must echo the collective moral outrage that such crimes provoke," asserts the judgment.

A Guilty Plea Ignored

Despite Nubbeebuccus's guilty plea and expressions of remorse in court, the judge deemed the exceptional severity of the crime warranted no reduction in sentence. Citing British case law, he reminded that in instances where the horror of the crime reaches an extreme level, even an admission of guilt cannot serve as a mitigating circumstance. "The guilty plea, although noted, cannot diminish the enormity of this crime. His expressed wish to reconnect with his daughter cannot outweigh the life he so violently extinguished," the magistrate concluded.

“Women Are Not Property”

In terms that will resonate throughout Mauritian legal history, the court proclaims: "Women in Mauritius are not the property of those who lived with them; their autonomy is not conditional; and their refusal to submit to control cannot become a death sentence."

This judgment, symbolically issued on Human Rights Day, sends a strong signal: the Mauritian justice system now recognizes femicide as a social phenomenon to be combated with the utmost severity. By sentencing Nubbeebuccus to an irreducible life sentence, the Supreme Court sets a high bar and asserts that some crimes are simply unforgivable.

For Sheena Buleeram's family, this verdict will never bring back their daughter. Yet, it amplifies her voice and affirms her rights, as Judge Manrakhan intended in his conclusion.