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A UK-based Sierra Leonean man, Amidu Koroma, 48, has been sentenced to 29 years in prison for brutally murdering his wife, Mariam Kamara, at their home in Brixton in January 2022.
He also received a concurrent seven-year sentence for setting the house on fire in a failed attempt to destroy evidence.
Koroma was convicted at the Old Bailey after jurors found that he attacked Ms Kamara, a 46-year-old community nurse, while she slept. He stabbed her repeatedly with a kitchen knife before dousing the bedroom in petrol and setting it ablaze.
The court further heard that after killing his wife, Koroma tried to blame the crime on his then-17-year-old son, accusing the teenager of suffering a mental breakdown and imitating scenes from a television thriller. Judge Rebecca Poulet KC condemned this attempt to frame his child as “exceptionally cruel.”
Evidence presented during the trial revealed a troubled marriage marked by longstanding tension. Friends testified that Ms Kamara had expressed fear that Koroma might one day harm her. Jurors were also told that Koroma who had fathered a child with another woman was worried that his wife planned to leave him for someone she had grown close to in Sierra Leone.
The fatal fire broke out in the early hours of 24 January 2022 on Railton Road, triggering a detailed police and fire investigation. Forensic analysis and inconsistencies in Koroma’s statements ultimately exposed his attempt to conceal the murder.
In delivering the sentence, Judge Poulet emphasised that the killing was premeditated and partially motivated by Koroma’s desperation to stop his wife from travelling to Sierra Leone. She highlighted aggravating factors including a history of threats and abuse, as well as the fact that Ms Kamara’s teenage son was asleep in the house when the attack took place.
In an emotional victim impact statement, Ms Kamara’s son, Ishmael now 19 said the loss of his mother had devastated his life, leaving him struggling with trust and burdened by a grief he “cannot comprehend.”
