No post mortem was conducted on Najeeb's body. Hence, the cause of death was determined by doctors based on external injuries.
Supreme Court has today heard the statement from the doctor who examined the body of lawyer Ahmed Najeeb after he was killed to clarify cause of death.
Fathimath Hana and her partner Ahmed Murrath have been convicted of Najeeb's murder. Hana and Murrath held Najeeb hostage in Murrath's house, extorted money from him, and killed him with a knife. Criminal Court found both guilty and sentenced them to death, which the High Court has later upheld.
As Hana did not appeal the case at the Supreme Court, the State asked the apex court to reaffirm the sentence. The Supreme Court held a hearing in the case today.
Dr Abdulla Azhar, who examined Najeeb's body, gave his statement in today's hearing. Dr Azhar said that the cause of Najeeb's death had been determined based on external injuries. The first reason for death noted in the doctor's report is asphyxiation due to something being wound tightly around the neck. The doctor said that it is believed this deprived oxygen from reaching Najeeb's brain, which led to his death.
The second reason noted is knife wounds across the body. Excessive bleeding from these stabbings would have caused death through blood loss, the doctor noted.
No post mortem was conducted on Najeeb's body. Hence, the cause of death was determined by doctors based on external injuries.
The State prosecutor said in today's hearing that the doctor's testimony and the evidence to be seen clearly indicate Najeeb's cause of death. They said that Hana's involvement in the death is also clearly evident.
Hana remained silent in today's hearing. However, in a Supreme Court hearing in the case three years ago, Hana offered a detailed account of events.
Although Hana has been convicted of murder, her defence is that she was not directly involved in Najeeb's killing, and claimed she had no such intention. Hana also raises questions whether she had inflicted the injuries that caused Najeeb's death.
Hana's account is that she and Murrath had taken Najeeb's cash card and forced him to give up his pin number. The two used this to purchase alcohol and food, after consuming which they went to sleep. She claims that she woke up the next day when Murrath worriedly called her, at which point Najeeb had already been murdered.
"He was very worried when he woke me up, and he said Najeeb had died at his hands. And I said 'what have you done?'. I was also very worried a the time. It was never my intention to do that," Hana said then.
Hana claims that she had participated in trying to conceal Najeeb's body due to her worried and nervous state of mind.
Hana also then reflected on how she had earlier confessed to the crime. She said that she had initially confessed due to feelings of guilt and belief that she had been involved, but stated that she no longer accepted that.
"To be honest, I ended up blaming myself because of how things happened. But when I think about it, the sentence that has been passed on me now is not one I deserve," she said.
The bench of judges said that a further hearing will be held if additional information is needed. Otherwise, the next hearing will be to announce the verdict.
Supreme Court has in 2016 upheld the death sentence against Murrath, although it remains unimplemented as of yet.
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