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| Wednesday, 24 September 2003 |
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Missionary's family opposes death penalty in India CANBERRA, Tuesday (Reuters) The family of an Australian missionary and his two sons, who were killed by a Hindu mob in India, has criticised the death sentence given to the leader of the gang. An Indian court sentenced to death Dara Singh, the ringleader of the mob of 13 men who attacked Graham Staines and his sons, Philip, 10 and Timothy, 6, burning them to death as they slept in a jeep in a village in Orissa state four years ago. While Singh was sentenced to death by hanging, his accomplices were sentenced to life in jail. The Australian government said it appreciated the commitment of Indian authorities in bringing to justice the men involved in this "utterly abhorrent crime" while reiterating its long-standing opposition to capital punishment. Staines' brother, John, expressed dismay at the death sentence and called for mercy for Singh as well as the other 12 men involved in the attack who all pleaded innocent. "I didn't want to see the man put to death," John Staines, who lives in Queensland state, told reporters on Tuesday. "He has to answer to God for what he did. You would never get over what happened if you can't forgive." Staines and his sons were killed during a wave of attacks on minority Christians by Hindu radicals opposed to conversions. Staines's widow, Gladys, who stayed on in India to run a home for lepers in Orissa state, said she had already forgiven the killers but she declined to comment on the death sentence. |
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