In Brief
A man was convicted of murdering his live-in partner (Manda) based primarily on extra-judicial confessions allegedly made to four witnesses. The Supreme Court allowed his appeal and acquitted him. The Court found that the confession lacked credibility because the accused was in a confused state of mind when he made it. Additionally, two key witnesses had material omissions in their police statements compared to their court testimony regarding what the accused told them—contradictions that undermined the prosecution case. With no corroborating forensic evidence and only suspicion pointing to the accused, the Court held that conviction could not rest on such weak and uncorroborated circumstantial evidence. The conviction was set aside and the accused was released.
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