PHC upholds convict’s death penalty

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence of a convict, who had murdered one of his paternal aunts and injured the other in Yar Hussain, Swabi, over a property dispute.

The convict’s appeal against the sentence was dismissed and the decision of the sessions court was maintained.The appeal was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Abdul Fayyaz while Syed Mubashir Shah represented the complainant.

During the hearing, the convict Haris’s lawyer argued that his client had been accused of killing one aunt with an axe and injuring the other. He said that the trial court had sentenced his client to death, but several aspects of the case were overlooked.

The lawyer pleaded if those had been considered, they could have benefited the accused. He prayed the court to annul the sentence.The complainant’s lawyer Mubashir Shah informed the court that accused Haris had attacked his two unmarried aunts, Bakht Zari and Sabt Zari, with an axe, killing one and injuring the other in the jurisdiction of Yar Hussain Police Station, Swabi, in 2021.

He argued that the accused was arrested by the police and then the sessions court had sentenced him to death and imposed a fine of Rs1 million, against which he had filed an appeal in the high court.

The lawyer pleaded that the injured woman directly named the accused in the FIR, and the incident occurred inside the house. He added that the witness statements were consistent, a blood-stained axe was recovered from the accused, and the motive behind the crime was also established, thus, there was no possibility of a false accusation.