Priest, nun get life term in 28-year-old murder case

NEW DELHI: A priest and a nun were sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday for the murder of a young nun in the Indian state of Kerala, 28 years after her body was found in a well in a convent compound. Thomas Kottoor and Sephy were sentenced to life for the 1992 murder of then 21-year-old nun Abhaya, legal reporting website Bar and Bench reported. All three were members of the Knanaya Catholic Church based in Kottayam. Sister Abhaya’s body was found on March 27, 1992. Initially labelled as suicide by police, the Sister Abhaya case has seen several twists and turns during almost three decades. These include re-investigations, allegations of evidence tampering, witnesses turning hostile and a petty thief becoming the key to convicting the accused. A local court on Tuesday convicted Kottoor and Sephy for murder and destruction of evidence. Kottoor was also charged with trespassing. A third accused individual - Jose Poothrikkayil, also a priest - was acquitted in 2018. The court has also imposed a fine of 650,000 rupees on Kottoor and 500,000 rupees on Sephy. The convicts are expected to appeal against the decision in a higher court. Abhaya was an undergraduate student at a convent school run by the church where Kottoor, who was also then secretary to the bishop, took classes. Sephy was in charge of the hostel where Abhaya resided. The court accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) case that Kottoor and Sephy had murdered the young woman after she inadvertently saw intimate exchanges between them inside the convent premises. “The case took decades to even reach trial and influential coteries including powerful people in the church tried to change its course,” said rights activist Jomon Puthenpurackal. Puthenpurackal is a founder of the Abhaya Action Council formed days after the young nun’s murder. — dpa