FAZAL MEHMOOD vs State Ss — 2023 PCrLJ 1071 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDH

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FAZAL MEHMOOD VS State Ss. 302(b) & 34---Qatl-i-amd, common intention---Appreciation of evidence---Circumstantial evidence---Last seen evidence---Scope---Accused was charged that he along with his co-accused committed murder of the cousin of complainant---Last seen evidence was furnished by a witness, who was named in the FIR---Said witness was not related to the deceased or the accused---Said witness was not a chance witness and he had no reason to falsely implicate the accused---Evidence of said witness was straight forward and he was not dented during cross-examination---Evidence of said witness was found to be trustworthy, reliable and confidence inspiring, hence believable and thus, relied upon---Said witness stated that the accused was present in the Madrassa at the time of the incident, as corroborated by the CCTV evidence---Accused, the deceased and other witnesses were present in the room/place of occurrence at about 11.00 p.m.---When the witness of last seen evidence got up to go to the wash room he had seen the accused sitting on the stairs looking puzzled at 12.30 a.m.(night)---Said witness had seen the accused already on his bed when he returned to his bed which would be at around 1.00 a.m. (night)---At about 2.30 a.m. said witness and some of the other student woke up when they heard a sound as if something had fallen and they found the deceased lying on the mattress with blood oozing from his head---At about 2.30 a.m. when the witness and others woke up and found the body of the deceased, the accused was gone---Cement block was found adjacent to the mattress of the deceased which had not been there before---Significantly, the timings given by the witness tied in roughly with the timings mentioned by complainant in his evidence whilst watching the CCTV footage---Thus, keeping in view the fact that it had already come in evidence that the beds of the accused and the deceased were next to each other in the same room---Moreover, it would appear that the last seen evidence test had been met---Namely, at about 1.00 a.m., the accused was seen sleeping beside the deceased and within one and a half hours the accused was gone and the deceased was dead in the bed next to the accused where a cement block was found which the accused had already been found carrying in the CCTV/USB footage back towards his room where the deceased was sleeping next to him---Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt---Motive was not proved, thus death penalty was reduced to imprisonment for life---Appeal against conviction was dismissed with said modification in sentence.

FAZAL MEHMOOD vs State Ss — 2023 PCrLJ 1071 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDH

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