Death Penalty Levied in Missionary's Death

NEW DELHI, India, SEPT. 22, 2003 (Zenit.org).- An Indian court has handed down a death sentence to the ringleader of a group of men convicted of murdering an Australian missionary and his two young sons, BBC reported.

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Twelve others received life imprisonment for burning Graham Staines alive along with Philip, 10, and Timothy, 8.

The court found the defendants guilty last week of rioting, arson and culpable homicide amounting to murder. All 13 will appeal their sentence.

Staines, 57, a Baptist, had spent 30 years working with lepers in Orissa. He and his sons died when the jeep they were sleeping in was torched in January 1999.

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