Minor found guilty of murdering Mohamed Anas in 2017 has been sentenced to 18 years in jail by the High Court, despite escaping the death sentence.
A group had attacked and murdered Anas, the captain of a speedboat hailing from Raa Atoll Meedhoo, in July 2017. The then 17 year old involved in the crime was not found guilty of murder by the Juvenile Court, and had not received a jail sentence. However, the High Court had recently ruled that he was in fact guilty.
Even though he is now over the age of 18, Juvenile Justice Act still prevents his details from being published as he was a minor when the crime was committed.
He was sentenced to 18 years and nine months of jail by the three-judge bench of the High Court.
Though all of Anas' kin had made it clear to the High Court that they wanted the culprit to receive the death sentence, he escaped the death penalty as the Juvenile Justice Act states that minors cannot be executed, no matter the nature of the crime they committed while they were underage.
He was sentenced to 18 years in prison because under the Juvenile Justice Act, juveniles can receive a maximum of three-fourths of the actual punishment stated in the law.
The juvenile court found him not guilty after defense witnesses had said he was in Hulhumale' on the night of the murder. The High Court, however, ruled that based on the evidence presented by the prosecution, the testimony of the defense witnesses could be dismissed.
The court observed that the investigation reports of the video showed that the minor was visible in the video footage and that the phone call reports showed that the other accused had contacted the juvenile on the day of the incident.
The ruling stated that video footage show that he was at the scene of the crime. Phone reports show that he had contact with others accused of being involved with the murder as well.
The trials of seven others accused of his murder is currently underway.
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