Oishee Rahman given death sentence for murder of parents

A Dhaka court has judged Oishee Rahman guilty of murdering her parents and sentenced her to death.

The verdict delivered by Judge Sayed Ahmed of Dhaka’s Third Speedy Trial Tribunal found the teenage girl’s friend Mizanur Rahman Rony guilty of abetment and handed him a sentence of two years’ rigorous imprisonment.

A fine of Tk 5,000 has also been clamped on Rony, failure to pay which will have him spend another month in jail.

The court acquitted Asaduzzaman Jony, another friend of Oishee, who also faced charges of abetment in the crime.

Police Inspector Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Swapna Rahman were found murdered in their apartment in Dhaka in 2013.

Police pressed charges against their daughter Oishee Rahman, her two friends and house help Khadija Akter Sumi for murders at the couple’s residence in the capital’s Chamelibagh.

The underage house help is being tried before a juvenile court.

In its verdict, the court said that Oishee had ‘planned the murder well ahead’.

“She was in her senses while committing the murder. The defence claimed she was a minor but failed to prove it. She was a drug addict but was normal when she killed her parents,” it said.

Oishee took shelter at the home of her friend Rony, who was found guilty of abetment on Thursday and given a prison term.

“Rony has already spent 19 months in jail since his arrest, which period will be adjusted with his two years jail sentence,” said Prosecutor Mahabubur Rahman.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Faruk Ahmed said that the defence would appeal against the verdict.

The case was filed by the slain police officer’s brother Mashiur Rahman, who had maintained that his niece was not involved in the killings.

He kept to his stance while testifying in court.

bdnews24.com reached him on Thursday after the verdict. “I am ill and will speak later,” was his response.

The bloodstained bodies of the Special Branch inspector and his wife were found in a locked bathroom in their apartment on Aug 16, 2013.

The autopsy report said that Rahman and his wife died of stabbing, which appeared to have been inflicted by amateurs.

Oishee along with the house help turned herself in at the police station the next day. Her friends Rony and Jony were arrested later.

The DNA of Mahfuzur and his wife matched the samples taken from Oishee’s  bloodstained clothes and ornaments, according to police.

According to the police statement, Oishee mixed sleeping pills in the coffee consumed by her parents. As they fell unconscious, she first stabbed her mother and then her father to death.

Police had initially come under strong criticism for taking into remand an 'underage' Oishee, whose school documents showed she was below 18.

Following an order by the court, an examination was subsequently conducted to determine Oishee's actual age.

Oishee was sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for physical examination. Doctors concluded that she was nearly 19 years old and Sumi 11.

In March 2014, police submitted the charge sheet in court, according to which Oishee had acted alone in killing her parents. The other three were charged with abetment to murder.

During interrogation, Oishee confessed to killing her parents with the help of Sumi.

But she later pleaded for a retraction of her confession, claiming police had tortured and forced her into making the statement.

The trial at a juvenile court of the underage house help Sumi is yet to be concluded.

The court indicted the 11-year-old girl in May last year and granted her bail.

She was released from the Gazipur juvenile correctional facility in June last year and placed in her mother’s custody.