KARACHI, July 25: A sessions court sentenced on Wednesday a man to life imprisonment in a murder case.

Over 60-year-old Emanuel Masih was found guilty of killing a shopkeeper in Mehmoodabad over a monetary dispute in December 2000.

The district and sessions judge (south), Hasan Feroz, who conducted the trial, pronounced the judgment after recording testimonies of witnesses and final arguments from both sides.

The court also directed the convict, a former employee of Pakistan Navy, to pay Rs200,000 to the heirs of the deceased as compensation and in case of non-payment the convict would undergo an additional one-year imprisonment.

According to the judgment, the prosecution examined six witnesses in order to prove its case and all of them, including eyewitnesses Mohammad Aqeel and Inayatullah, deposed against the accused and assigned his role in the commissioning of the offence.

The witnesses were subjected to cross-examination at length, but their evidence remained consistent on material points, it added.

The court further observed that the documentary and medical evidence furnished by the prosecution also corroborated the ocular evidence.

After the evaluation of the whole evidence available on record, the court ruled that it was of the firm opinion that the prosecution had succeeded in proving its case against the accused beyond a shadow of a doubt.

According to the prosecution, complainant Bashir Ahmed and his younger brother Shaukat Ali ran a bakery/milk shop in Mehmoodabad and a brother of the accused used to buy milk and other items on credit.

However, on Dec 19, 2000, Shaukat along with one of his friends went to the house of the buyer to demand payment of purchased goods, but his brother Emanuel Masih came out and opened fire on the victim leaving him seriously wounded. Later he died, it added.

The police arrested the suspect shortly after the incident. However, he was released on bail in 2007.

A case (FIR 214/2000) was registered under Section 302 (punishment for premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Mehmoodabad police station.

The accused appeared before the court on bail and following the pronouncement of the judgment he was taken into custody and sent to prison with a conviction warrant to serve out the sentence.