ISLAMABAD: A trial court reserved the verdict in the murder case of Canadian national Sara Inam, who was killed reportedly by her ex-husband Shahnawaz Amir, son of politician and journalist Ayaz Amir.

District and Sessions Judge Nasir Javed Rana will announce the judgement on December 14, almost a year after the gruesome killing. Shahnawaz’s mother Samina Shah, former spouse of Ayaz Amir, was also nominated as an accused in this case.

Concluding the arguments, Ms Shah’s counsel Nisar Asghar said that the statement of Shahnawaz did not establish any role of his mother in the murder. He said that there was no evidence to prove the charge that she abetted the crime. He pointed out that the police did not submit her fingerprint report to the court. He requested the court to acquit her in the murder case.

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The prosecutor Rana Hassan Abbas argued that Ms Shah called the police several hours after the murder. He said that the postmortem report said that the deceased succumbed to death due to multiple head injuries. He said that Shahnawaz Amir took a photograph of the crime scene and sent it to his parents, asking if he should surrender.

Inamur Rahim, the father of the slain girl, informed the judge that he was not happy with Sara’s marriage to Shahnawaz, but he accepted her decision to marry the prime accused. He rejected the arguments of Shah’s counsel that Samina Shah was not aware of the brawl between Sara and Shahnawaz.

He alleged that Ms Shah did and her son delayed the call to the police. “How could she not hear the cries of my daughter,” the father said in reference to Samina Shah. Mr Rahim’s counsel argued that Ms Shah dined with Sara and her son, and knew what happened in her house.

Ms Shah told the judge that she was in another room and when Shahnawaz called him, she went to his room and “found out that her son was not in his senses”. She stated that she called Ayaz Amir who advised her to confine Shahnawaz in a room to prevent any potential bid to escape.

Sara Inam was murdered on Sept 22 last year at a farmhouse in Islamabad’s Shahzad Town, only a day after she arrived in the country from the UAE where she had been working. The next day, her spouse Shahnawaz was arrested by the police on a murder charge. The first information report (FIR) was registered on the complaint of Shahzad Town Station House Officer (SHO) Nawazish Ali Khan at the Chak Shahzad police station, initially under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Later, the police added Section 109 (punishment for abetment if act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) to the FIR and initiated proceedings against Shahnawaz’s parents, Samina and Ayaz Amir.

As per the police challan, Shahnawaz Amir fought with Sara Inam after she refused to send him money and also divorced her on the phone. After the divorce, Sara Inam reached Islamabad from Abu Dhabi on September 22.

During heated arguments, Amir Shahnawaz allegedly hit the victim with a showpiece and injured her. When the victim made a noise, the accused picked up a dumbbell and hit her several times on the head. According to the medical report, Sara Inam died due to a head injury.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2023