A man who was charged with murder and attempted murder in December 2001, has been acquitted of the murder charge and handed a suspended sentence for the charge of attempted murder.
Joseph Martin Shayam murdered Randhir Kapoor and attempted to murder Kiran Kapoor on Christmas day, 2001 after the two brothers with others went to his house and assaulted him.
Judge Justice Priyantha Fernando notes that the deceased and his brother grabbed Shayam's daughter and when he tried to intervene they assaulted him.
The Judge said Shayam first hit the deceased and then hit the brother of deceased with the knife.
In his defense, Shayam had stated that he had acted in self defense and that he was provoked by the deceased and his brother.
Accepting his defense, Judge Fernando acquitted him of the murder charge but convicted him of the lesser offence of attempted murder.
Judge Fernando stated that the court must also consider the mental trauma the accused would have undergone of waiting for the trial for more than 8 years.
He said the accused was in remand custody for almost 14 months until he was released on bail on 20th February 2003 and that 14 months period of incarceration has to be taken into consideration.
Judge Fernando said on the aforementioned factors, he finds that this is a fit case where the above sentence should be suspended.
He sentenced Shayam to 18 months imprisonment and suspended it for one year.
