A 55-year-old Indian-origin woman has been convicted of murdering her nine-year-old stepdaughter and faces up to life in prison at sentencing in the United States.
On Friday, Shamdai Arjun was convicted by a jury for the August 2016 strangulation death of her nine-year-old step-daughter Ashdeep Kaur, who was left in her care.
On Monday, the Acting Queens District Attorney John M. Ryan said, “This is a horrifying case of a defenceless nine-year-old child, who was to be cared for by her stepmother but was instead strangled to death by her. Her actions are truly incomprehensible and deserve the maximum punishment allowed under the law.”
The jury took that less than one hour before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth C. Holder to deliberate on their decision.
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Justice Holder indicated that he would sentence the defendant on June 3, 2019, at which time, the defendant faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
Acting District Attorney Ryan said that, according to trial testimony, on August 19th 2016 evening, defendant Arjun was seen leaving the home along with her ex-husband Raymond Narayan, and her two grandchildren ages 3 and 5 by an eyewitness.
She was asked about the nine-year-old victim’s whereabouts upon which Ms Arjun informed the child was in the bathroom and was waiting for her father to pick her up.
The eyewitness, who observed that the bathroom light had been on since at least two hours, called the victim’s father and was instructed to break through the bathroom door, at which time she found the deceased victim in the bathtub.
A report filed by the Medical Examiner’s Office found the cause of death was manual strangulation.
