Kerala court convicts man for repeatedly stabbing a young woman to death two years ago

Kannur: A Kerala court on Friday found a man guilty of the brutal murder of a 21-year-old woman pharmacist at her home near Panur in the northern Kerala district of Kannur in October 2022.

The Thalassery Additional District Sessions Court found the accused, Shyamjith, guilty of killing the victim, Vishnupriya.

It will pronounce the order on the sentence on May 13, Public Prosecutor K Ajith Kumar said.

The prosecutor said that the accused killed the woman as she had ended their friendship and was close to another man.

The prosecutor said that Shyamjith came to the Vishnupriya's house armed with a hammer and other weapons when her family had gone to attend a funeral.

Vishnupriya was on a video call with a male friend when Shyamjith entered the home, he said.

This was recorded in the video call, and the 13-second-long footage was the crucial evidence in the case, the prosecutor said.

Besides that, the prosecution also relied on CCTV visuals of Shyamjith purchasing the weapons used to commit the crime.

Kumar said that Shyamjith first hit Vishnupriya on the head with a hammer and when she fell down, he slit her throat.

Even after she had died, he continued to stab her, and as a result, there were 29 wounds on her body, the prosecutor said.

Vishnupriya was found dead in a pool of blood with a slit throat and deep wounds on her neck and hands at her residence on October 22, 2022.

Within hours of the gruesome murder, police arrested Shyamjith, a native of nearby Manantheri.