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A blacksmith who slit his son’s throat over a dispute related to the latter’s alleged drug addiction has lost his appeal at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court.
The court yesterday upheld the life sentence issued against the 63-year-old Pakistani father, who had called the police himself and confessed to killing his 34-year-old son, Mohamed Rizwan.
During the appeals process, the defence attempted to secure a reduced sentence for their client, arguing that he was provoked by his son.
“The appellant did what he did as a result of being degraded and beaten by the victim,” his lawyer earlier argued.
“The crime was born of the moment, he did not plan it. The High Criminal Court also never responded to our argument that he was provoked,” she added, also requesting that judges summon the witnesses again ‘to discuss the case further’.
However, the court dismissed the defence’s requests and claims, declaring them as a ‘futile effort to dodge blame’.
Judges responded that there was no benefit to be had from hearing witness testimonies again ‘as none of them personally witnessed the incident’.
The verdict also added that ‘the appellant already admitted to the killing and stated that he did not mean it’.
The GDN earlier reported that the Pakistani admitted to premeditated murder charges at the court and recounted a long history of disputes with his son. Despite his claims that his son was a drug addict, an autopsy found no traces of narcotics in his system, his blood having tested negative for stimulants and alcohol.
According to the autopsy, the cut to the victim’s throat was so deep that it had reached the spine and completely severed the oesophagus and larynx.
Several witnesses, including the man’s roommate and a cold store manager, testified that the son behaved erratically and was often violent towards his father, both verbally and physically.
The labourer said the son would ‘stir up trouble constantly’, hit his dad and ‘say awful things to him’ and that they were fighting on the day of the incident.
Another witness, the shopkeeper of the grocery store that the roommates frequented, described the son as ‘unstable’ and said that he saw him ‘yell for no reason’ and pull at the appellant’s clothes.
A police officer recounted arriving at the crime scene and hearing first-hand the appellant confessing to the murder. He maintained the same account of his crime throughout his questioning and before judges in court.
Mr Rizwan had arrived in Bahrain 10 days before the incident to work alongside his dad, after spending two months in a drug addiction rehabilitation facility back home.
At first, he ‘appeared completely normal’, the court heard, but soon began showing symptoms of violent psychosis: fighting with neighbours, hitting his father and insulting him in public.
The appellant could not cope and decided to send his son back to Pakistan. The flight was scheduled four days before the killing, but he reportedly started ‘behaving erratically’ at the airport. Police officers refused to allow him to board because of his ‘disruptive behaviour’, and so his father booked another flight and planned to personally escort him back to their home country.
“The night before the murder, the victim was screaming the whole night in the room in which the appellant and his two roommates lived,” read the High Criminal Court verdict.
“They couldn’t sleep and remained awake until the next morning. When the roommates left, an argument began between the two, leading the victim to raise a knife against his father.
“The victim tried to attack the appellant twice, but he managed to disarm him both times, and flung the knife across the room.
“Anger and rage came over the appellant and he overpowered his son, tied his wrists and feet and gagged him. His son tried his best to break free but to no avail.
“With his knee on the victim’s chest and his hand on his forehead, he tilted back his son’s head to reveal his throat.”
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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