The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The father of late Namgay Dolkar (24), Singye Wangchuk, is in a state of shock and not happy with the Thimphu District Court sentencing the killer of his daughter to 14 years 11 months and 29 days only.
Singye said, “If this is the legal standard in Bhutan then tomorrow anyone can kill anyone, and claim they did it in a fit of anger and get away with minimal sentencing.”
“I am not satisfied with the verdict, and I want the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to appeal the case for a murder charge and life imprisonment as there are multiple strong evidences for murder of my daughter,” the father added. He said he has plans to head to the OAG office to make his position clear.
The father’s decision will make a major impact on whether OAG will appeal or not.
Apart from the father, there is a major public outcry saying that the sentencing is not equivalent to the crime committed.
The Criminal Bench of the Thimphu District Court on Friday afternoon sentenced businessman Sonam Norbu (39) for voluntary manslaughter of Namgay Dolkar on the evening of 13th August 2023.
Voluntary manslaughter is a felony of the second degree and has sentencing from 9 to under 15 years.
Voluntary manslaughter is defined in the Penal Code under section 140 as, “A defendant shall be guilty of the offence of voluntary manslaughter if the defendant: (a) Possess the intention to kill but without premeditated malice, acts under the violence of sudden passion occasioned by some great provocation such that a reasonable person would be induced to cause the death of other person; or (b) With vicious intent to cause serious bodily injury to a person causes the death of that person.”
The defense in the case was trying to prove that it was a suicide case while the OAG said that it was a pre-mediated murder case.
Strong defense team
What was a big help to the defense case was that they could hire one of the best law firms in Thimphu called Garuda Legal Services whose skilled senior lawyer fought the case in court trying to consistently poke holes even in the strongest evidences presented to the court like the forensic report, CCTV footage, changing statements, etc.
It seems like the skilled legal preparation and arguments by the defense team, while failing to prove a suicide case, did enough to create a doubt in the mind of the court which did not go with OAG’s murder charge and settled for voluntary manslaughter.
Voluntary manslaughter is one degree below murder. The court felt the evidence was not strong or clear enough to convict him for murder, which is a felony of the first degree with a minimum of 15 years to a maximum of life imprisonment.
While the court has accepted that Sonam killed Namgay, but the court concludes it was done when a violent altercation ensued, during which Sonam, acting under sudden passion and provocation, strangled and smothered the victim, and it was not a pre meditated killing, which could constitute murder.
A drive to the crime scene and more questions
However, as a part of the paper’s research into the premeditated motive a day before the verdict, the reporter drove from where Namgay Dolkar was seen approaching Sonam’s car above the NPPF colony to the crime scene in the parking before the Kariphu bridge.
The drive took around 38 minutes in total, and what immediately becomes apparent is that the location is too far away for a conventional dating spot. There is no shortage of dating spots in Thimphu valley and the adjoining hills, and so it is strange that anyone would drive 38 minutes and that too towards evening to this remote place far away from Thimphu.
Upon reaching the spot at approximately 4:30 pm, it is clear for anyone to judge that the spot is isolated enough to carry out a murder. The drive on the rough road is around 4 minutes from the main road down to the crime scene.
The whole area is very secluded and hidden from the highway above and also the houses on the other side of the river. There are no settlements nearby. Even though it was peak traffic movement time, there were hardly any vehicles on the farm road. The loud noise of the Wangchu river would easily drown out any person screaming for his or her life.
Given that Namgay Dolkar left her house on the evening of 5.30 pm on 13th August 2023 to be picked up by Sonam Norbu then it would be common sense to assume that by the time they got to the Khariphu bridge, it would be well past 6 pm and getting dark or already dark.
Once the killing is done in the dark then it would be easy to carry a body for hardly 10 or 15 meters and dump the body into the swollen river through large gaps in the side of bailey bridge, which is what Sonam Norbu did on the evening of 13th August 2023.
A big question still hanging over the case, which higher courts may have to look at is, why did Sonam bring Namgay to such a far away and secluded spot not known as a ‘dating site’ and then proceed to kill her and dispose her body if the killing was not pre-meditated?
Other evidences
The police could only track down Sonam as an initial suspect, as the call records with Bhutan Telecom showed that the last few calls Namgay made were with Sonam.
When the police went through Sonam’s phone, they found that he had deleted all chat history with the victim, and he admitted to deleting it citing foul language.
When Sonam was questioned by the police, he had initially said that Namgay Dolkar had wanted to meet him on Sunday, and so he booked a hotel room at Hotel Football, but she did not turn up and so he cancelled the booking.
The booking of a hotel room, and cancelling it and maintaining records to show it was done is, itself, suspicious.
He confessed to the police that he was already married with children, and that he had told her there would be problems at home, but she did not listen. He claimed that she ‘tortured him.’ He told the police that on the evening of Sunday evening, he went to Pamtsho to see his wife’s sick mother, and then he went back home to Changzamtog. He even indicated Namgay may have gone to Nepal.
Two things made Sonam change his story and written statements twice.
The first was RBP looking at CCTV footages, which showed Sonam’s car heading towards the NPPF colony, a fact he had hidden, and then later his car exiting the Thimphu Welcome Gate and around 9 pm heading back to Thimphu.
The police confronted Sonam with the CCTV evidence, and he then changed his story saying he went near Yusipang area, which is their dating site, to look for her, but did not find her there. He said he then went near the Rochogpel Hotel looking for her and came back after that.
The second turn of events was the discovery of Namgay Dolkar’s body in the river in the Kariphu area, itself, on 15th August around 500 meters from the bridge. The swollen river had not been able to carry her body away as her body got stuck on a log.
Sonam, again, changed his story saying he met Namgay Dolkar at a road intersection to Postcard Dewa Hotel just around 500 meters before Khasadrapchu, and from there they went on a drive to Kariphu, where they drove below the road towards the bridge and parked at a parking area just before the Kariphu bridge.
Sonam claimed to the police that there, Namgay tried to strangle herself with the car seat belt, and he tried to stop her, and in the process, also squeezed her neck in anger. He said she then came out of the car and jumped into the river.
Sonam neither attempted to rescue her nor did he call anybody for help. Instead, he drove back to Thimphu. He said he kept quiet as he thought he would get into trouble.
Namgay’s phone has not been found so far.
The police and OAG had three main evidences with the first being the changing statements above, the second was the forensic report.
The post mortem report showed her death due to strong pressure on the neck along with strong pressure over her mouth and that her death happened before her body even hit the water.
She had multiple bruises on her neck, jaw, upper chest, shoulder, left hand, left thigh and inner thigh, signs of smothering, and strangulation marks all showing a violent and forced death.
If Sonam killed Namgay in a fit of rage then it is difficult to see how this squares up with the extensive injuries on Namgay, which points to a prolonged effort till she was dead, and not a sudden hit or push causing the death.
The third and key evidence was CCTV footage showing Namgay heading towards Sonam’s car on the fateful day above NPPF colony near Shopper’s Store when Sonam claimed he instead picked her up from Postcard Dewa Hotel.
Burden of proof
In a criminal case, the burden of proof lies on the accuser or the prosecuting agency, and the proof is subjected to rigorous standards by the court.
It is not out of the realm of possibility that the court, subjected the individual evidences to very high standards of tests and with the added pressure of a skilled defense lawyer (formerly himself from the OAG), poking holes in the evidences.
The court, in the end, may have examined the trees in detail but may have missed the forest for the trees when looking at how the bigger picture is shaping up.
The case was filed on 1st December 2023 by the OAG, and there was some delay as the first judge was transferred as part of normal judicial posting when the case had reached an advanced stage, and a second judge had to take over.
