Two acquitted in 2012 theft, assault case
THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
Judicial Magistrate First Class, Mapusa has acquitted Makenzie Fernandes, resident of St Cruz and Cedric D'Costa, resident of Guirim, on charges of assaulting the complainant and robbing her handbag containing among other things, an iPhone and other items total worth Rs 24,500 in a case registered by Porvorim Police in October 2012.
The charge sheet stated that on October 26, 2012, at about 11.30 pm on the descending slope proceeding from Porvorim towards Betim, the two accused riding a Pulsar motorcycle, with their common intention, used criminal force against the complainant, who was travelling on an Activa scooter and snatched her brown-colour handbag from her shoulder.
The handbag contained her PAN card, driving license, SBI ATM card, ICICI payback card, iPhone, another Chinese-made mobile phone and cash of Rs 2,000, all worth Rs 24,500.
To begin with, the complainant did not depose in the trial. She got the mobile phone released to her and was untraceable. The mobile was not even available for identification during the trial.
Contents of the complaint remained unproved and fingers were not pointed to the two accused as being the ones to commit the alleged theft after assaulting the complainant.
The judgment noted that the prosecution failed to prove that the alleged incident of theft occurred and it also couldn’t prove the chain of circumstances whereby the phone was attached from one Samson Gonsalves and was later released to the complainant.
The Court was not given any idea as to how the mobile came in the possession of the police and the pancha witness deposed that he would be unable to identify the said phone as he does not even know the brand, make or colour of it.
The prosecution attempted to establish that the phone was recovered from Gonsalves, who was not examined and hence, the allegation was not proved.
The police also claimed that they tracked down the IMEI number of the phone through the service provider. The tracking details submitted before the police by the service provider were not produced or exhibited in the trial.
