Mardan (July 09, 2018): A special anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday handed out life imprisonment to Muhammad Nabi, a 15-year-old convict in the rape and murder of four year old Asma in Mardan. The court also imposed a fine of Rs1 million on the convict.
Asma was reported missing from the Gujjar Garhi area in Mardan on January 13, and was recovered dead the next day from nearby sugarcane fields. According to her postmortem report, the four-year-old was raped and later killed.
However, former IG Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Salahuddin Mehsud had claimed that the accused had unsuccessfully attempted rape before murdering the girl.
On February 12, Nabi, who was also Asma’s second cousin and lived in the same area as her, had confessed to murdering her before the court of senior civil judge Asim Riaz.
Mardan Regional Police Officer Dr Mian Saeed said that the case was resolved by tracing a drop of blood on a leaf in the sugarcane field where the minor was killed. He further said that fingerprint traces of the suspect were found on the neck of the deceased, and the weapon used for the crime has also been recovered.
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Dr Saeed said that the suspect attempted sexual assault on the four-year-old in the sugarcane field but the minor resisted by shouting for help.
In reaction, Nabi killed the minor by strangulation. According to the details, he later confessed that he raped and murdered Asma in the field.
In his confessional statement, he said that he was at a shop in his locality when Asma came and asked for sugarcane on which he took her to the field and killed after sexual assault.
On February 06, A DNA sample from one of the suspects has been found to match the remains collected from the body of Asma.
According to sources privy to the matter, previously, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had sent DNA samples of 145 suspects to the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory for DNA testing.
The provincial law minister stated that “the family of the deceased told media that they found the body from the field, police came a day later. Also, KPK IG tried to dilute the case, the police cordoned their home so that the family cant speak to anyone. No action has been taken against even the constable of the locality for the negligence.”
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