A fast track court here on Friday sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life a 57-year-old ex-convict who was found guilty of the murder of the woman with whom he cohabited for almost a year after his release from prison where he served time for the murder of his first wife.
Fast Track-I judge K.V. Gopikuttan convicted Soman alias Yosouf, a native of Varkala, in connection with the murder of Sara Beevi, near Nettukaltheri Open Prison.
Local women who went to collect firewood from a forested patch of land near the Open Prison had found the mutilated and decomposed body of Sara Beevi on January 31, 2010. The body was seen decapitated, with its skull split open.
Soman had befriended Sara when he served time at the Open Prison for the murder of his first wife, Rabi, in Kannur in 1992. The police arrested Soman, who had absconded after Sara’s murder, and put him on trial for Sara’s murder.
The prosecution pointed out that Soman had killed Rabi after doubting her fidelity. He had converted to Islam after he met Rabi and fell in love with her. At the time, he was employed near Rabi’s family home in Kannur.
The prosecution case was that Soman had lured Rabi to a remote locality under the pretext to collect kindling and then hacked her to death. The murder was reported on September 14, 1992.
The prosecution case was that Soman had killed his second partner, Sara, a divorcee, in an almost similar manner. He doubted that she had another secret partner and was angered by her friendship with neighbours and relatives. The prosecution pointed out that Soman had served time in prison in the early 1980s for grievously assaulting a woman friend of his. The judge observed that Soman’s crime warranted a death penalty. However, the judge said that he had considered the age of the accused and reduced the sentence to rigorous imprisonment for life.
The judge ordered that the State should not consider Soman for parole or any other leniency during the first 17 years of his incarceration. He said the State’s primary responsibility was to protect society from such unrepentant offenders. Public Prosecutor N. Nazzurudin prosecuted the case.
