KOCHI: The High Court upheld the sentence of life imprisonment awarded by the trial court to Kasargod native Satheesh Babu alias Satheesh Nair in the case of killing Sister Amala of the Pala Carmelite convent. Assessing that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of sexual assault against the accused, the High Court revoked the ten years of rigorous imprisonment awarded to Satheesh for this offence. A bench comprising Justice PB Sureshkumar and Justice Johnson John issued the verdict after considering the appeal filed by Satheesh Babu against the sentence of the Pala Additional District Court.

Sister Amala was found dead in the room of the convent on the morning of September 17, 2015. On September 24, 2019, the police arrested the accused Satheesh Babu from Haridwar. The prosecution case is that the accused, who had entered the convent to commit theft, killed Sister Amala by hitting her on the head with a hand axe. Satheesh had stolen Rs 2000 from the bag in Amala's room and Rs 500 from the cupboard in another sister's room. The charge sheet stated that the accused had sexually assaulted Sister Amala after knocking her unconscious. Following this, the accused was charged with crimes like rape, trespassing and housebreaking in addition to murder.

However, the High Court ruled that the victim had to be raped alive for the crime of rape to stand and that the prosecution had not been able to prove the exact time of death in this case. Pointing this out, the court dropped the crime of rape and the punishment for it. Sentences for other offences, including murder and housebreaking, were upheld. The High Court also opined that the prosecution was able to prove that the accused committed the murder.