BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Vermont man was convicted on Thursday of killing his wife with a meat cleaver and injuring his mother-in-law five years ago.
Aita Gurung was convicted by a jury Thursday for first-degree murder for killing his wife, Yogeswari Khadka, 32, and attempted second-degree murder for an attack on his mother-in-law in Burlington, Vermont, in October 2017, the attorney general’s office said, according to The Associated Press.
According to the AP, Gurung was originally charged with murder for his wife’s death, but the county prosecutor dropped the charges in 2019. The county prosecutor said that evidence at the time showed he was “legally insane.” The charges were then refiled by then-Attorney General T.J. Donovan after Gov. Phil Scott had asked for the case to be reviewed.
The AP reported that police alleged that in October 2017, Gurung attacked and killed his wife and injured his mother-in-law hours after he tried to get treatment at a hospital for mental health.
On Thursday, the court ordered Gurung to continue to be hospitalized at a mental health facility “pending a hearing on that status,” the attorney general’s office said, according to the AP.
“I want to once again express my sympathy to the friends and family of the victims of these heinous acts. Although legal justice has been served today, these verdicts will never heal the irreparable pain this murderer has inflicted,” Scott said in a news release.
No further information has been released.
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