A husband who brutally beat his wife to death with a hockey stick and then severed her head while the school was on lockdown has been sentenced to prison.
In April of last year, Kaushik Kumar Solanki, 55, killed his wife Manisha, 49, in their Humberstone, Leicester, home. He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
After the assault, Solanki leaped from a cliff at Hunstanton, Norfolk, onto the rocks below. He broke his arms and legs and had a major head damage. The emergency services discovered him with his face “smashed.”
He said that the Covid-19 lockdowns contributed to the breakdown of his marriage to Manisha, who was about to file for divorce, and that the pandemic restrictions “worsened his mental health.”
Within two hours after Solanki falling from the cliff, Manisha’s corpse was discovered in the utility room.
The right side of her skull was severely fractured, and she also suffered fractures in her wrists and forearms while attempting to protect herself, according to testimony given in court.
According to LeicestershireLive, when Solanki was found gravely injured on the Norfolk shore, police immediately connected his finding with Manisha’s death.
Their marriage started to break down in 2016, according to the prosecutor, Gordon Aspen QC, and at the time of the murder, a “really poisonous and contentious condition developed between them.”
Due to accusations of violence, Leicestershire Police had visited the couple’s house many times before to the incident and had even suggested that the pair split.
The couple’s marriage was in crisis for 16 reasons, including the start of the lockdowns and the move of their boys to college, according to Judge Timothy Spencer QC.
A video of Kaushik’s wife hitting him and cursing at him was shown in court as part of his defence, but the judge stated Kaushik’s actions in the video would have changed had he known the police would see it.
At Leicester College, Manisha worked with students who need special education services, while Solanki was employed by Leicester City Council as a driver for persons with disabilities.
Following the guilty plea, Detective Inspector Jenni Heggs of the serious crime unit of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) said: “First and foremost, my sympathies are with the Solankis’ friends and family at this very trying time.
“During the course of our inquiry, it became clear that Kaushik Solanki had a mental disorder that caused him to kill his wife.
Even while I understand that today’s decision won’t bring Manisha back, I hope it will at least provide some closure and let them go on with their lives.
Visit www.samaritans.org or phone the Samaritans at (116) 123 to get help.