A district and sessions court in Islamabad awarded death sentence to the main culprit Shahnawaz Amir in the Sarah Inam murder case on Thursday. But the victim’s father called for punishment for the culprit’s mother, saying that she was also invovled i the murder.
Here are the key developments from the case:
September 23, 2022: Sara Inam, a 37-year-old Canadian national, was found dead at their Islamabad farmhouse residence. Her husband was arrested on accusations of killing her.
The killing reminded the people of Noor Mukadam murder case.
September 24, 2022: A police case was registered at Islamabad’s Shahzad Town Police Station. The FIR, which was registered under Section 302 (punishment of qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code, said that the accused hid the body after killing Sarah.
September 25, 2022: Analyst Ayaz Amir was arrested in connection with the murder of his daughter-in-law Sarah Inam.
September 25, 2022: Sarah Inam’s last Instagram post goes viral.
September 26, 2022: Sarah Inam kept her marriage secret from her parents, the police investigation officer told the Islamabad district and sessions court.
September 26, 2022: Samina Shah, the mother of the prime suspect, was granted a pre-arrest bail by the district and sessions court in Islamabad.
September 27, 2022: Another case registered against prime suspect Shahnawaz Amir.
September 27, 2022: An Islamabad court discharged analyst Ayaz Amir from the case.
September 28, 2022: Sarah Inam was laid to rest in Islamabad’s Shahzad Town as her father demanded that the courts should award strict punishment to suspects.
October 1, 2023: Prime suspect’s father Ayaz Amir seeks mercy. In his op-ed piece for Dunya newspaper, he confirmed that his son was a drug addict and didn’t work.
October 3, 2023: An investigation officer told the court that the police were trying to recover Sarah’s passport. But TV anchor Mehar Bokhari, who says she was a friend of Sarah, claimed that Shahnawaz tried tampering with evidence by breaking his and the victim’s phone and destroying her Canadian passport by cutting it into pieces with scissors.
January 11, 2023: Lady Constable Shakila Kausar told the court that Shahnawaz himself led the police to Sarah’s body after allegedly killing her by repeated blows to the head.
January 25, 2023: A police constable told the court that Shahnawaz himself helped recover the victim’s possession and handed them to the police.
The constable also told the court that the yellow bag that the deceased was carrying on the day of her death was recovered from the place of death. The bag carried Rs15,000, AED 2,700 and $100. An airplane ticket, carrying the date September 22, was also found from the bag.
September 24, 2023: Fathers of Noor Mukadam and Sarah Inam addressed a press conference in Islamabad and sought justice.
October 10, 2023: A district and sessions court in Islamabad gave a questionnaire to the prime suspect in the case under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code under which the judge can put a question to an accused person before concluding the trial.
October 25, 2023: Shahnawaz denied all allegations against him in his statement under Section 342 of the CrPC.
December 09, 2023: An Islamabad district and sessions court reserved its verdict in the murder case of Sara Inam.
December 14, 2023: Shahnawaz Amir sentenced to death and the court ordered him to pay Rs1 million fine.