PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has upheld conviction of a man for axing his wife to death but commuted the sentence of death awarded to him by the trial court to life imprisonment.

A bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar observed that the prosecution proved its case against the appellant, Zafar Ali, and the evidence on record connected him with the commission of the offence.

However, the bench observed that the motive for the murder right from beginning till the end was shrouded in mystery and even the eyewitness could not tell that on the night of occurrence or earlier to the occurrence, there was any altercation between the husband and wife.

The bench observed that the eyewitness could not explain that both the husband and wife exchanged hot words before the tragic incident.

Bench commutes his death sentence to life imprisonment

The appellant was convicted on April 7, 2023, by an additional sessions judge in Swat for axing his wife, Ms Khalida, to death. He was sentenced to death and was also ordered to pay compensation of Rs1 million to the legal heirs of the deceased.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered on September 15, 2020, at Khurshid Khan Shaheed police station in Khwazakhela, Swat. The complainant in the FIR was Ghulam Mohammad, a brother of the deceased woman.

The occurrence was witnessed by a sister of the deceased named Ms Shakeela. The witness stated that her deceased sister and the appellant were sleeping inside their room along with their two children, whereas she was sleeping in the veranda with her minor nephew.

She said that at around 2am she woke up due to noise coming from the room of the deceased and when she went towards it she found it locked from inside.

She added that after around 10 minutes the door opened and her brother-in-law came out having a blood stained axe in his hand and told her to get out of her way otherwise he would kill her.

The witness testified when she entered the room she saw her sister body lying in a pool of blood.

The additional advocate general, Haq Nawaz, appeared for state and contended that the appellant was directly charged for the occurrence and the prosecution witnesses clearly testified against him.

He stated that the appellant had also recorded his confessional statement wherein he had admitted his guilt. He added that the deceased was killed in a brutal manner and the appellant didn’t deserve any leniency.

The appellant’s counsel Zegar Sher argued that the prosecution case was having several loopholes.

He contended that during the entire trial, the prosecution couldn’t put forward any motive for the commission of the offence.

The bench observed that the defence tried its best to extract something favourable from the witnesses, but despite efforts no substantial contradictions could be noted in their statements, and, nothing detrimental to the prosecution could be brought on record.

The bench further observed that the medical evidence fully supported the case of the prosecution as admittedly, the deceased was killed by using axe, so when the body was examined by the doctor, she found axe blows on it. It was added when the recovered axe was sent to laboratory, the report provided that it was containing human blood.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2024