Man gets life term for stabbing teen 22 times, killing her

The court, however, said that it cannot be detrimental to the case and that it was a “cold-blooded, planned murder of a young girl”.

“The absence of motive or the relationship not being established could be because it was personal to the knowledge of the accused and the deceased only. It cannot be said to be detrimental to that of the case of prosecution…,” said Principal Judge A Subramaniam said in his order on Wednesday.

Chief Public Prosecutor J V Desai had said that on April 9, 2017, the police were informed that a girl, aged 16 or 17, was found lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds at Vakola in Santacruz.

In all, 15 witnesses were examined, including medical experts, who said that the girl had 25 wounds, of which 22 were stab wounds caused by a sharp weapon.

According to two eyewitnesses, who claimed to have seen More stab Shaikh, they had chased and caught More and handed him over to a nearby traffic policeman.

The police had claimed that after his arrest, More led them to the knife he had thrown into a nearby drain after the murder.

More, through his lawyer, had raised doubts in police’s version, claiming that he was home when the FIR was lodged. More further claimed that there was no corroboration as to when the knife was thrown in the drain and how it was recovered.

He also said that it was unbelievable that the witnesses ran to chase him and made no effort to save the girl first.

To this, the court said that it is difficult to state how a person would react to a particular
incidence.

“A person could react to a particular incidence differently, although the incidence could be the same. He could be neutral, or run away, or assist the victim or assist in catching the culprit. It is really difficult to predict the manner in which a person would react,” it added.