Sister Abhaya Case : 17 Circumstances Which Led CBI Court To Convict Father Thomas Kottoor & Sister Sephy

A special CBI Court at Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday sentenced to life imprisonment Father Thomas M Kottoor and Sister Sephy, a priest and a nun of the Catholic church respectively, for the murder of Sister Abhaya 28 years ago.Special CBI Judge K Sanilkumar found Kottoor and Sephy guilty of murder accepting the case of the Central Bureau of Investigation that Sister Abhaya was murdered by the convicts after she happened to witness their intimate exchanges inside the convent. She was hit on her head with a blunt weapon and her body was thrown into the convent well.The case was totally based on circumstantial evidence as there were no eyewitnesses for the crime.The judgment delivered by Special CBI Judge K Sanil Kumar has listed 17 circumstances to reach a guilty verdict. They are :1. There were 6 ante-mortem injuries on the body of Sister Abhaya as clear from the evidence of PW33 Dr Radhakrishnan(police surgeon) along with the postmortem certificate.2. Based on the evidence of PW7 Varghese Chacko(photographer who took the photos of the body as per the instructions of Kottatyam West Police), it has been proved that there were nail mark injuries on either side of the neck of the person of Sister Abhaya.3.The evidence of PW33 and PW31, in the light of the antemortem injuries as noted in Ext.P62 post-mortem report, proves that injury Nos. 1, 2 and 6 possess a definite characteristic of being caused to the person of Sister Abhaya before her body was submerged.4.The nail mark injuries as proved through PW7(photographer) are injuries caused to the person of Sister Abhaya before her body was submerged.5.It is proved that there was a fracture on the skull of Sister Abhaya through PW33, Dr. Radhakrishnan.6. From the evidence of PW31(Dr Kanthaswami, a medical expert) and PW33 it is proved that the death of Sister Abhaya was due to head injury and drowning. 7.It is proved that the deceased Sister Abhaya was a very smart, pious, honest, simple, perseverant and punctilious girl meticulous in all respects. She was leading a happy and altruistic life, and also proved that it was simply impossible for her to have ended her life on her own, through the evidence of PWs1,9,11 ,25,32 andPW14(Sister Anupama,Nisha Rani,Achamma,Sister Elicitta, Sister Sherly, who were inmates of the convent and Professor Thressiamma, Abhaya's lecturer, respectively). 8.Through the evidence of PW31 and PW33, it has been proved that Sister Abhaya died due to a combination of head injury and drowning. 9. Through the evidence of PW31, and PW33, and in the light of the medical evidence, and the evidence of PWs 4, 7, 11, and 14(MM Thomas, Varghese Chacko, Achamma and Professor Thressiamma), it is proved that the death of Sister Abhaya was homicide. 10.It is proved that there were strange and abnormal disturbances in the kitchen work area and the kitchen wash area of the St. Pius X Convent Hostel in the morning of 27/03/1992 through the evidence of PW4,PW11, and PW24(MM Thomas- who reached the kitchen on the morning of the crime, Achamma-the convent cook, and Jomon Puthenpurackal). MM Thomas went to the kitchen and found a hand axe lying near a corner of the kitchen. He found that the door of the refrigerator was open. A bottle of water was lying on the floor near the refrigerator; a nun's veil was there in between the two leaves of the back door of the kitchen.A pair of slippers was there, one of the pair was located in one place and the other was located in another place. Achamma, the convent cook, deposed that Fathers were in the habit of visiting the St. Pius X Convent Hostel and that she would on such occasions be asked to cook sumptuous dishes to be served to the priests. She also deposed that convent was guarded by dogs. The Court noted that no one deposed about hearing any barking noise on the fateful night. The baffling question why the dogs did not bark on the night of 26/27-3-1992 finds the answer in the explanation of PW11 that the dogs do not bark on seeing the regular visitors to the St.Pius XConvent Hostel, the court said.11.The solitary presence of A3(Sister Sephy) in her ground floor room of the St. Pius X Convent Hostel on the night of 26/03/1992, has been proved through the evidence of,PW1, PW9, and PW11.12. The presence of A1(Kottoor) in the St. Pius X Convent Hostel in the night of 26/27-03-1992 has been proved through the evidence of PW3(Raju @ Adacka Raju, who was in the convent premises during the night for theft). Raju told the court that while he was sitting atop a tree to scale down the convent wall, he saw two men climbing down the staircase at the rear side of the building. He identified one of them as accused Kottoor. He could not identify the second person, which led to the discharge of the second accused Father Jose Poothrikkayil. Raju's testimony turned out to be vital in linking...

Sister Abhaya Case : 17 Circumstances Which Led CBI Court To Convict Father Thomas Kottoor & Sister Sephy

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Sister Abhaya Case : 17 Circumstances Which Led CBI Court To Convict Father Thomas Kottoor & Sister Sephy

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