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A ROBBER, whose jail sentence was lowered from five to three years in February, has lost his second attempt at appeal.
The Pakistani man was found guilty, in absentia, of aggravated robbery and assault, after leading a gang of knife-wielding burglars and breaking into a worker’s accommodation in Manama.
The appellant also reportedly stole a room-mate’s wallet containing BD200 and beat his other house-mates in an attempt to relieve them of their possessions.
He was sentenced, again, in absentia, in May last year but did not appear at his trial, as he had not been apprehended, but then stood before judges for the first time in January this year, who issued a new sentence.
Even though he was not cleared of any charges or wrongdoing, the court decided to re-evaluate the ruling and lower the jail time.
“The court finds that the objection has no basis, which calls for its rejection,” the new ruling read, adding that nothing new was presented by way of defence.
“But considering the circumstances of the case, the court rules to amend the verdict to make it align better with the crime.”
Upon a second appeal at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court, however, judges upheld the reduced three-year sentence, along with an order to deport him after completing his jail term.
The GDN earlier reported that four Pakistani men testified to being victims of the defendant and his accomplices.
“As I was with my room-mates in our shared residence, we were surprised to see a large number of Pakistani nationals enter the room we were in,” one of the witnesses had told prosecutors.
“They had entered by breaking down the door and were carrying wooden planks and knives in their hands. They beat us up and then searched us, stealing out personal possessions.
“They stole my wallet which contained BD200.”
Another witness was reportedly assaulted by the defendant and his posse of unidentified miscreants, but the victim did not suffer any long-term injuries, according to the medical examiner’s report.
A policeman, who received the initial report from the Pakistani room-mates, was able to trace the defendant’s name and information though a phone number provided to him by the witnesses.
They were reportedly able to correctly pick his photo out from a line-up, identifying him as one of the armed burglars. However, none of the gang members appear to have been arrested.
In the original verdict, the court stated that the charge of ‘using violence to render the targets unable to resist the theft’ is inseparable from the assault charge.
The verdict added that the two charges have a compounding effect, leading judges to issue a greater sentence than if the two charges occurred on their own.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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