Court postpones case of murdered taxi driver

The trial in the murder of Qasim Hassan has been postponed after the defense did not receive the required documents of the case before the trial.

Adhuham Mohamed is being charged for the murder in Hulhumale’ early December last year. He has already admitted to the murder at a detention hearing and during interrogation to the murder.

According to the Criminal Procedure Code of Maldives, it should be ensured that all the documents pertaining to the case should be received by the defense. In today’s hearing, it was decided that state-appointed attorney would work for the defense of Adhuham since he did have the capacity to appoint one himself.

Judge Ismail Rasheed asked Adhuham whether he had received the documents pertaining to the case as the hearing today began. Adhuham stated that he had received the documents, however, his lawyer stated that he had not. This led the judge to postpone the hearing to allow the defense lawyer to familiarize and analyze the case. The judge stated that the next hearing would be scheduled once this confirmed.

The defense attorney requested a hearing tomorrow if the documents were received today. This request was echoed by the prosecution who also stated their wish to speed up the case since Adhuham had already confessed to the murder.

The prosecution requested an order of confidentiality regarding the documents since it contained photos of the victim and statements of witnesses who wish to remain anonymous. Judge Rasheed granted this request by the prosecution today.

Qasim Hassan was murdered on December 4, after being brutally attacked inside his taxi. Adhuham had admitted to the murder which police described as a mugging gone wrong.