Runs over Renu Dabas, 20, with car.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Samander Dabas, a 47 year-old man from South Brunswick, New Jersey, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the death of his wife.
Dabas plead guilty on January 17th to one count of aggravated manslaughter for hitting his 20 year-old wife, Renu Dabas, with his car on August 24, 2004.
The couple was at the South Brunswick Square Mall around 9:00 PM when their 1999 Mercury Villager struck a tree, causing the airbags to deploy. Knowing her husband was intoxicated, Renu exited the car and refused her husband’s repeated demands to get back into the vehicle.
Infuriated with his wife, Dabas then struck his wife with the car at a speed of 20-25 mph. Dabas reportedly ran over a cement island in the mall’s parking lot and deliberately went after her, striking her with the car and causing her to hit the pavement hard.
She was immediately rushed to the University Medical Center of Princeton, where she was treated for severe head injuries, but ultimately succumbed to her wounds. Dabas, meanwhile, was arrested, with toxicology reports indicated he had a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level of .209 – about two-and-a-half times the legal limit.
Dabas’s sentence was part of a plea deal arranged by his attorney and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. He will have to serve at least 85% of the 12 year-sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves – which amounts to just over a decade – before he’s eligible for parole. Upon release from prison, a parole board will supervise him for a minimum of five years.
Dabas and his wife were married in India in April 2003. At the time of her death, Renu had been in the US for less than one month. Dabas had a previous marriage, which began in 1991 and ended at an undisclosed time, but reported court records indicate that he had a history of abuse in that marriage as well, physically striking both his wife and mother-in-law.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com