The Punakha District Court has sentenced a 26-year-old man from Dzomi Gewog to 25 years in prison for murdering his uncle.
The judgement, passed last Friday, also ordered him to pay a compensation of around Nu 178,000 to the relatives of the deceased.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) had actually charged him with voluntary manslaughter but the court ruled it a murder. It said the act was deliberate.
A land dispute between the two led to the murder. The incident happened on July 26 in Buli-Gepa near Khuruthang.
According to the judgement, the convict battered and took his 61-year-old uncle to Dzomi mangmi’s house for clarification. The deceased had accused the convict of misplacing his documents.
However, since the mangmi was asleep the two returned. The convict then took his uncle to the riverside where they engaged in fistfight and the deceased got pushed into the river.
The body of the uncle is yet to be recovered.
