Peshawar high court withdraws life sentence

Lawyer of the accused points out inconsistencies in evidence presented at court

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has set aside a trial court’s decision to sentence a convict to life imprisonment and impose a fine worth Rs0.5 million on him.

A division bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Irshad Qaiser were hearing a petition filed on Monday by Muhammad Yousaf, the convict, through his counsel, Advocate Sahibzada Asadullah.

Yousaf had been arrested for killing Ameer Qadir on September 26, 2007 over an old enmity.

Asadullah argued the court had unjustly delivered the verdict against his client as the evidence produced before the court was not present on the crime scene. According to Asadullah, the post-mortem report stated the deceased had been shot in the head with nine bullets.

“How is it possible for a person who has been shot in the head to walk 14 feet with no note of blood taken by the police?” the counsel asked.
He added the weapon was sent to the laboratory 25 days after the murder and two people suspected to have committed the crime.

Asadullah requested the bench to release his client on bail. The bench released the petitioner after reviewing evidence and witness statements.