The Madras High Court Bench here has confirmed the conviction and various sentences, including life imprisonment, imposed by a trial court on an individual for having severed the head of a young woman in a case of unrequited love after trespassing into her house and attempting to murder her father too when the latter intervened.
A Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan held that it did not find any infirmity in the judgement passed by Tirunelveli Principal District and Sessions Court on July 9 last convicting Manikandan alias Mani under Sections 302(murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 449 (house trespass) of the Indian Penal Code.
Appeal dismissed
Dismissing an appeal preferred by the convict, the judges also said the trial court had rightly sentenced the appellant to life imprisonment for having murdered the woman brutally, seven years of rigorous imprisonment for attempting to murder her father and three months of rigorous imprisonment for trespassing into their house.
According to Alangulam police in Tirunelveli district, the appellant had trespassed into the woman’s house by scaling the compound wall on December 17, 2012 with the clear intention of murdering her. He had carried a machete along with him and used the weapon to behead the woman and attack her father.
The prosecution case was supported by the necropsy report which found that the assailant had also caused a deep cut injury on the woman’s head extending from the right ear to the left ear besides causing cut injuries on the right shoulder, right chest, middle of the chest, left arm and other parts of the body.
Writing the judgement for the Bench, Mr. Justice Selvam said: “Even though, on the side of the prosecution, as many as 18 witnesses have been examined, the mother of the deceased, her sister and a few other witnesses have become hostile. The trial court has believed the evidence given by the woman’s father to convict the appellant.
“Since he is an injured eye witnesses, much credence can be given to his evidence. Further, the evidence given by him is nothing but trustworthy. Considering the fact that he has given a picturesque evidence with regard to occurrence and his evidence is clearly corroborated by the evidence of another witness, this Court is of the view that he is a believable witness and his evidence can be a sole basis for conviction.”