Supreme Court has ruled on Thursday to uphold the High Court's issuance of death penalty on Mohamed Shaifan, convicted of the murder of Ali Shifan (Tholhi Peley) ten years ago in front of West Park.
High Court sentenced Shaifan to death in 2016. He was one of six charged with the murder with a sharp object of Ali Shifan of Ma. Fairy Corner in April, 2012.
Supreme Court, passing its verdict in the appeal case submitted by Shaifan, stated on Thursday that some witnesses have stated that Shaifan is among those who physically attacked Shifan, while other witnesses have stated they have seen him active at the site of the murder at the time of the attack. The ruling further states that DNA is solid evidence that can be used in cases like this, and Shaifan's DNA matches those recovered by investigators during the investigation.
The majority decision of the Supreme Court bench state that the witness statements and DNA evidence prove Shaifan's guilt, and ruled to uphold the death sentence.
Some witnesses in the case have stated that they saw Shaifan with a large meat knife at the time of the murder. Shifan died as a result of shock and significant loss of blood in the attack.
DNA recovered from Shifan's body matches that of Shaifan. Today's Supreme Court ruling described this as strong evidence, and stated that advanced DNA technology can be accepted as evidence even in cases of murder.
This is the first case since 2016 where the Supreme Court has ruled to uphold capital punishment.
The Supreme Court bench consisted of Judge Dr Muhthasim Adnan, Judge Dr Azmiralda Zahir, Judge Aisha Shujoon Mohamed, Judge Mahaz Ali Zahir and Judge HusnuSuood. All judges besides Judge Shujoon were in favour of the Chief Judge's ruling to uphold the death sentence.
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