MARGAO, MARCH 23
The 30-year-old native of Hubli Anand Kambli, who was held guilty for the murder of 52-year-old British woman in Margao two years ago, was on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by the South Goa Sessions Court.
While sentencing the accused, Additional Sessions Judge P V Sawaikar observed there are no exceptional circumstances made out in the case to award death penalty to the accused, adding that the possibility of reforming the accused also cannot be ruled out. “Awarding the punishment of life imprisonment on the accused shall meet the ends of justice”, Judge Sawaikar added.
In his order sentencing the accused to life imprisonment, the Judge said the prosecution evidence does not suggest that the accused will be a continuing threat to the society. The Judge also said that that evidence also does not convincingly establish the reason behind the murder. “The prosecution has also not made out any specific reasons that make this case a rarest of the rare case warranting imposition of death penalty”, Judge Sawaikar said.
Saying there is no evidence that the accused had any criminal antecedents, the Judge said there is also no evidence that the accused is not amenable to reforms.
Anand Kambli was earlier held guilty by the Court for the murder of 52-year Dennise Higgins at her bungalow at Sapna Harmony at Gogol-Margao on April 26, 2007.
It was later revealed during investigations by Margao police headed by PI Santosh Desai that the accused had befriended the UK woman and was repeatedly taking money from her under the pretext of opening a restaurant.
It was the contention of the police that the accused stabbed her to death after she refused to pay any more money to him. The prosecution led by Public Prosecutor Bhanudas S Gaonkar had examined 22 witnesses in support of its case.
