NZ Indian who killed his wife's lover appeals hefty jail term
Darpan News Desk IANS, 03 Nov, 2022 11:01 AM
Wellington, Nov 3 (IANS) An Indian-origin man in New Zealand, who murdered his wifes lover in a savage hammer attack, challenged the length of his sentence at a court in Christchurch on Thursday.
Months of pent-up jealousy and anger drove Niraj Nilesh Prasad, 39, to break into Faiz Ali's Armagh St flat and smash his head with a hammer on February 21, 2021.
Prasad, who was found guilty of murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 18-and-a-half years by the High Court in Christchurch in March.
Challenging the length of his sentence at the Court of Appeal, Prasad's lawyer James Rapley said that cultural factors were in play when his client reacted so viciously and violently, and were "causative" of his brutal offending, but not taken into account when he was sentenced, the NZ Herald reported.
The lawyer further said that the issues raised in the cultural report should be taken into consideration as it helps to explain Prasad's extreme action and, to some extent, lessens his culpability.
During the trial in March, the prosecutor said the killing was "calculated and premeditated", with Prasad delivering at least 20 hammer blows on Ali's head.
Ali received 38 wounds in the hammer and knife attack, which caused "plainly visible catastrophic head injuries" and would have continued when he was defenceless, dying and perhaps even dead, NZ Herald reported.
The blows fractured Ali's skull and jaw, and fatally damaged his brain.
The cultural report said Prasad was racked by shame, hopelessness and a consuming despair.
And while Rapley accepted that infidelity happens in "all walks of life and cultures", and that nothing excuses Prasad from killing another man, the cultural report helps explain his actions.
The report says there was "no doubt" Prasad's cultural background played a role in the way he reacted, Rapley said.
Reserving its decision, the Court of Appeal asked: "It's one thing to be deeply ashamed and upset, but how does that translate into an extremely violent and brutal attack?"
The judges also noted that violent murders as these are not unique to any particular culture or background.
Neighbours had seen Prasad covered in blood and holding a hammer as he left the crime scene.
He told one of them: "I won't harm you. That man was having an affair with my wife."
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, wants the Department of Homeland Security to lift the vaccine requirement for truck drivers and other travellers. In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Tester says vaccine mandates at the border are making cross-border trade harder and more expensive.
Anger erupted after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman from the north-western city of Saqez, died at a hospital in Tehran last Friday following three days in a coma. She was visiting the capital with her family on September 13 when she was arrested by morality police officers, who accused her of violating the law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab and their arms and legs with loose clothing.
It's a high bar to clear for the King, who in both his private and public life, has raised eyebrows for conduct that his critics see as unbecoming of a royal. But this generational divide could be prove both an asset and a liability, experts say, positioning the King to make changes befitting of a modern monarch, while maintaining the continuity of dynastic power.
In the last 24 hours, 15 new fatalities were reported, all in the worst-hit Sindh province, reports Xinhua news agency citing the NDMA as saying. The victims included a child and three women. 12,716 km of roads and 374 bridges were damaged.
His father, Nazir Khan, reportedly poured kerosene over Shaheer and lit a match in an attempt to terrify the boy into completing his homework, but the flame ignited the oil and set the child ablaze, the report said.
With those explosive words, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres opened the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on Tuesday listing the crisis upon crisis piled upon the world. He listed them: war, conflicts, climate change, hunger, financial crises, challenges of runaway technology developments, hate speech, global divisions and inequalities, and massive human rights violations.
