KARACHI: An antiterrorism court has expressed its displeasure with the prosecution over its failure in producing witnesses against three detained accused in a Chinese dentist’s murder case.

Chinese dentist Dr Richard Hu and his wife Phen Teyin were wounded and their assistant Ronald Raymond Chou was shot dead by an unidentified assailant at their Preedy Street clinic on Sept 27 last year.

Three detained accused -- Waqar Ahmed alias Khadim, Nabeel Ahmed alias Nabeel Gabol and Wazeer Ali Khushk alias Mitho Khushik – have been charged with wounding the Chinese Pakistani nationals and their nephew in the attack.

The case had been taken up many a times for recording testimonies of prosecution witnesses but the investigating officer, Inspector Syed Sarfaraz, had been failing to produce them in the court despite issuance of repeated directives.

When the matter recently came up for the hearing, the ATC-XVI judge took exception to the absence of the witnesses as well as the investigating officer himself.

Taking a serious notice of the IO’s failure in producing the witnesses, the judge ordered him to produce them on the next date of hearing.

According to the prosecution, an unknown assailant, wearing a surgical mask and pretending himself as a patient, had come to the private dental clinic of Dr Hu, and opened fire with a 9mm caliber pistol.

Dr Hu and his wife survived the attack, though suffering bullet wounds, but their relative, Mr Chou, who worked with them as an assistant, had died on the spot, it added.

The couple, who held both Chinese and Pakistani nationalities, had been running their clinic on the ground floor of a British-era building in Saddar for decades. They lived in the Park Lane area of Clifton while the deceased victim was living in the Cantt Station area.

The case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempt to murder), 334 (punishment for Itlaf-i-udw), 337-A(i) (Shajja), 337-F(vi) and 337-F(iii) (punishment for ghayr-jaifah), 34 (common intention) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with the Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the CID Civil Lines police station.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2023