PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has upheld sentence of death awarded to a convict by a trial court for killing one of his aunts and injuring another one in Swabi district over a property dispute around four years ago.

A bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Mian Abdul Fayyaz rejected appeal filed by the convict named Haris Khan, observing that the prosecution proved its case against him.

Advocate Syed Mudassir Shah appeared for the complainant and stated that the appellant had killed his paternal aunt named Bukht Zari in a brutal manner by hitting her with an axe in the limits of Yar Hussain police station in Swabi.

He said that he had also hit another of his aunt, Sabt Zari, leaving her critically injured. He added that the motive behind the murder was that the appellant was demanding transferring a share to his name from the residence of the two women.

He argued that the case was fully proved against the appellant as the injured woman directly charged him for the commission of the offence. He added that there was no conflict in the statements of the prosecution witnesses.

The counsel contended that the trial court had rightly convicted him and sentenced him to death with fine of Rs1 million, as he was charged for a heinous offence. He added that the axe used by the appellant in the crime was also recovered on his pinpointing.

The appellant’s counsel contended that the trial court had overlooked several points while convicting his client. He claimed that his client was falsely implicated in the instant case.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2025