KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence handed down to a man by the trial court for killing two men during a robbery at a bakery in 2016.

The court observed that the appellant “fully deserved” the capital punishment by way of deterrent in order to counter an alarming surge in street crimes in Karachi in which muggers mercilessly murdered any person who attempted to put up slightest resistance.

A model court had sentenced Abdullah Baloch to death in February 2020 for killing bakery owner Mumtaz Ahmed and salesman Muhammad Akhtar when they put up resistance in Kharadar in October 2016.

The convict, through his counsel, had challenged the conviction order while the trial court had also sent a reference to the SHC for confirmation of death sentence or otherwise.

After hearing both sides and examining the record and proceedings of the case, a two-judge bench comprising Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha and Justice Khadim Hussain Tunio dismissed the appeal and maintained the sentence.

It observed that the evidence of eyewitnesses including two independent witnesses was consistent and their presence at the time of incident has been explained and the recovery of unlicensed weapon, which was used in the crime, from the appellant had also been established.

After proper assessment and valuation of evidence, the court concurred that the guilt of appellant had been proven and the point requiring consideration whether there was any mitigating circumstances which could justify the sentence awarded to the appellant by the trial court, the bench said.

The bench in its judgement further noted that the appellant was the main culprit who had opened fire on two innocent people and solely responsible for their deaths.

It further observed that he deserved no lenience for ruthlessly taking two lives and death sentence was fully justified by way of deterrent to counter rapidly growing incidents of street crimes in the city.

According to the prosecution, Akhtar Ali and his brother Mumtaz were running a bakery in Kharadar. On Oct 20, 2016 two men on a motorcycle emerged at the shop, held Mumtaz, his brother-in-law Muzafar Hussain and two salesmen at gunpoint to commit a robbery.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022