XAVIER Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been filed by the appellant, who is the sole accused in S.C. No. 603 of 2013, challenging the verdict passed by the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Mavelikkara by which he was found guilty for offences under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short 'IPC') and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life for the above said offence along with a fine stipulation of Rs. 25,000/- ( Rupees Twenty Thousand only).

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that the deceased Yellamma @ Manju and the appellant were living together as husband and wife. The appellant is a native of Tamil Nadu and the deceased belonged to Karnataka. They were wanderers and had no permanent place of residence. At the relevant time, they were staying in the private bus stand Kayamkulam in an area which was under construction at that time. The deceased was a beggar and there was frequent quarrel between them. The incident happened on 07/06/2013 between 7.30 and 8.30 p.m.. The motive alleged for the crime is that the accused got infuriated due to the fact that the money collected by the deceased out of begging on 07/06/2013 was very meagre. The appellant quarrelled with the deceased and stamped her with his legs wearing his chappals, on her face, chest and stomach and also hit on the naval portion with MO1 granite stone and caused fatal injuries and subsequently she succumbed to the injuries.

(3.) Prosecution examined PWs 1 to 26 as witnesses, marked documents Exts.P1 to P28 and identified material objects MO1 to MO16.