This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The 18-year-old son of a South Salt Lake woman who was violently murdered in 2015 wishes the law would allow for her killer to be sentenced more harshly, he said Tuesday.
Kamal Subba sobbed as he told a judge in 3rd District Court about the loss his family had felt since 27-year-old Dil Bahadur Magar took the life of Subba's mother, 38-year-old Bhoti Subba, on July 3, 2015.
"Everyone needs a mother. No one has a right to take away a mother from us," Kamal Subba said on behalf of his younger brothers and his father, who was in court with him. Magar shouldn't be able to hurt anyone else, he added.
On Tuesday, Judge Ann Boyden sentenced Magar to a term of 15 years to life at the Utah State Prison — the mandatory sentence for murder, a first-degree felony. Magar had also been charged with aggravated burglary, but the count was dismissed when he pleaded guilty to murder in November.
Magar and Bhoti Subba were Nepalese refugees, a community that included her husband and children.
According to prosecutors, Bhoti Subba's body was found in her bedroom July 6, 2015, three days after Magar had used a butcher knife to sever one of her arteries before strangling her with an extension cord.
A medical examiner determined that the woman died of strangulation and severe blood loss; her neck had been cut twice, according to charges.
Kamal Subba said he'd been told that Magar's actions were motivated by money, but defense attorney Charles Corry said he understood the situation differently.
Bhoti Subba and Magar had been drinking together that day, Corry said, and though their exact relationship and degree of intimacy was "unclear," Magar was worried his girlfriend would find out about what was happening with Bhoti Subba.
Magar was "intoxicated to the point where he doesn't have a clear memory of what happened" that day, Corry said, but he feels "a tremendous amount of remorse."
Magar apologized over and over before the court, and he pledged to "never, ever, ever commit crime in my life again."
"I would like to do whatever I need to do to bring her life back," he said with a Nepalese accent. "I never ever expected I would commit this kind of crime in my life. I am sorry for her ... really, really, really sorry."
After the sentencing, Kamal Subba said Magar deserves to stay in prison for the rest of his life. If Magar ever is up for parole, the teen said he would be interested in going to explain why Magar is too dangerous to be released.
Bhoti Subba was an "amazing mother," her son said, and though she "struggled with drinking," she was a giving person and was passionate about helping people.
Magar's DNA profile is consistent with the profile found under Bhoti Subba's fingernails, on a bag carrying electrical cords and on a soda bottle that was in the apartment, according to the charges. His fingerprints were on several beer cans in the apartment, a drinking glass in the bedroom and a black cleaver in the bedroom.
On the same day as the autopsy, police interviewed Magar, who lived several blocks from Subba. He allegedly told them that he knew Subba through his girlfriend.
At the time, Magar denied having a relationship with Subba and said he had never been inside her apartment or talked to her on the phone, according to the charges.
Magar allowed police to look at his phone, according to charges, and investigators found that the call log prior to July 4 had been deleted. But when police checked Subba's phone records, they reportedly discovered 18 calls between her and Magar in the three days leading to her death, the charges add.
Police have said there were no signs of forced entry to the apartment.
Twitter: @mnoblenews