QATAR: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING ELDERLY PERSON

9 dicembre 2020:

The Doha Court of Appeal has sentenced two residents to death for killing an elderly man with a knife after tying him with a rope and mutilating his corpse, The Doha Globe reported on 8 December 2020.
The murder followed a financial dispute between the defendants and the victim.
A dispute had arisen between the two over the payment for some work the defendants had done for the victim.
The court heard that a delay took place in making the payment. On the day of the crime, the two accused, armed with a knife and carrying a rope, went to meet the victim to demand their dues and after an argument, immobilized the elderly man and then stabbed him.
After the murder, they took his phone and wallet, cut up his body, hid it in a hole and fled.
After finding the body, the police succeeded in uncovering the mystery by monitoring the last phone call received on the victim’s phone number, which was from the phone of one of the accused. He was arrested and gave information about his accomplice, who, too, was arrested before he was able to leave the country.
The accused admitted to the heinous crime and were referred to the Public Prosecution.
The Criminal Court, which heard the case, ruled by consensus that they be sentenced to death.
The two defendants approached the Court of Appeal, which upheld the previous ruling. The two defendants appealed against the judgment before the Court of Cassation, which decided to return the case to another Court of Appeal than the one that had issued the judgment.
The Court of Cassation gave its judgment on the basis of a mistake made by the Court of Appeal because it had not stated that the death sentence was passed by consensus, as the law requires that death sentences be passed only by consensus of all the members of the court.
The case was then considered by a different Court of Appeal which unanimously agreed to execute the accused.
The nationality of the accused and the victim have not been revealed.