Court revises charge slapped on murder accused

The High Criminal Court has revised the charge slapped on a GCC man accused in a murder case. The defendant was initially charged with beating another man to death, but his accusation has been now changed to manslaughter due to lack of evidence. The defendant is said to have killed the victim after the latter broke into his house while in an inebriated state.  “While I was, at night, sitting with my wife and children, my cook came to me and told me that a drunk man was attempting to forcefully enter our house.

I went outside and asked him what he wanted,” the accused man told prosecutors.  However, the victim allegedly attacked the defendant, who in turn responded, causing his death. “He tried to pounce on me. But I held him and threw him to the ground. Suddenly, he was motionless as his head hit the ground hard. He was announced dead at the hospital after a few days,” the GCC national added.

The defendant’s lawyer Islam Ghunaim argued that his client had only acted in self-defence and didn’t intend to harm anybody. “My client is absolutely innocent because he didn’t do anything that caused the death of the defendant. He was only trying to defend himself because he was attacked by the drunk victim. It’s only normal that a man would react in this manner to protect himself,” Ghunaim told judges at the High Criminal Court. 

“The doctor who examined the accused man told us that the head knock didn’t have anything to do with his death which was attributed to pneumonia. “He affirmed that the victim’s head injury had completely healed,” Ghunaim concluded, insisting his client shouldn’t be charged in this case.