SHC dismisses appeal against conviction in murder case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed the appeal of a man against his life imprisonment sentence in a murder case.

Wali Mohammad was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Thatta additional district and sessions court for murdering Javed at a private petrol pump on May 8, 2013. The high court, however, acquitted the two other co-accused in the case. A counsel for the appellant submitted that he should be given the same benefit as given to the two other co-accused.

He submitted that the witnesses were all related inter se to the deceased and eyewitness Ramzan had made several errors in his testimony and the prosecution case was full of contradictions.

An additional prosecutor general supported the prosecution case and impugned judgment. He submitted that not only were there three eyewitnesses to the occurrence but the empty shell found from the place of incident matched the pistol recovered from the appellant.

A single bench of the SHC headed by Justice Omar Sial after hearing the arguments of the counsel observed that the prosecution was successful in proving its case against the appellant beyond reasonable doubt.

The SHC observed that the eyewitnesses’ evidence was trustworthy and could be relied upon. Regarding discrepancies pointed out by the appellant’s counsel, the high court observed that there seemed to be no manipulation of statement with regard to empties of the pistol recovered from the appellant.

The high court observed that the appellant could not be given the benefit of the acquittals of his co-accused Ali Ahmed and Ali Mohammad. The bench observed that the prosecution had discharged its burden which had then shifted on the accused to give a plausible defence and the appellant gave none, let alone a plausible one. The SHC observed that there was no reason to interfere with the judgment of the trial court and dismissed the appeal.