Technician escapes hangman’s noose as charge amended
KOTA KINABALU: A technician was yesterday sentenced to 20 years’ jail by the Federal Court here after it set aside his death sentence for killing a man five years ago.
Federal Court judges, Justice Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Raus Sharif, together with Justices Tan Sri Datuk Wira Ahmad Hj Maarop, Tan Sri Hasan Lah, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Abu Samah Nordin and Dato’ Wira Aziah Ali, unanimously allowed the appeal by Mohamad Ahmad, 34, to have the charge against him was amended to manslaughter under Section 304 (a) of the Penal Code.
In setting aside the death penalty, the court ruled that the conviction under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder was not safe.
The court further held that they substituted the death sentence to 20 years jail term to run from the date of his arrest.
In pleading for a lenient sentence, government-assigned counsel, Hamid Ismail, for the appellant, submitted that the appellant was a first-time offender and requested for a jail term to run from the date of his arrest.
In reply, the prosecution told the court that the maximum sentence provides under Section 304 (a) of the Penal Code for causing death is 30 years. However, the prosecution left it to the court to decide.
On April 13, 2013, the High Court here sentenced the appellant to death by hanging after he was found guilty under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
The charge stated that the appellant had killed one Musleh Salleh, 27, at a billiard outlet in Menggatal New Township at about 5.10 pm on January 5, 2012.
The appellant had earlier appealed to the Court of Appeal but his appeal was dismissed.
In another case, the same Federal Court here yesterday dismissed a last resort appeal by a Filipino labourer against his death sentence for murdering a man in Beluran, seven years ago.
The same panel of Federal Court judges unanimously dismissed Hasyim Rahman’s appeal to have his sentence varied.
Hasyim, 41, was sentenced to death on October 23, 2013 by the Sandakan High Court after he was found guilty of murdering one Baharuddin Amir with a machete on Sept 25, 2011 at a workers quarters at an oil palm estate in Beluran.
The offence under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the death sentence upon conviction.
On January 26, 2016, the Court of Appeal affirmed his death sentence after dismissing his appeal.
Earlier, counsel Farazwin Haxdy, for the appellant, submitted that the trial judge had failed to consider self-defence put forth by the appellant. She submitted that the appellant had acted in selfdefence as he feared for his safety when the deceased, whom he just knew, came and barged into the kitchen without warning.
In reply, the prosecution argued that the trial judge was correct to say that it was the appellant’s afterthought defence and had rejected his defence that he did not know the deceased.
In a separate case, the same Federal Court also dismissed an appeal by a 39-year-old man against his death sentence for murder in Tawau.
Alsarip Ambong was sentenced to death on May 12, 2014 by the Tawau High Court for murdering one Muslim Sammah, 30, on November 8, 2011 in a house at Km 4, Kampung Hidayat, Jalan Apas, Tawau.
On January 27, 2016, the Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court’s decision and dismissed his appeal.