Death sentence upheld for four men convicted of murder
KUCHING: The Federal Court has upheld the death sentence for four men, who caused the death of a 32-year-old Batu Kawa woman in 2007.
A three-member panel comprising justices Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Tan Sri Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan made the unanimous decision against Goh Wee Khian, Farose Tamure, Saidina Sarbeni and Abdul Hadi Sarbeni, after dismissing their appeal to commute their death sentence to imprisonment term.
In April 2010, the High Court here had sentenced the four men to death. They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which provides for death sentence or imprisonment for a term of not less than 30 years, but not exceeding 40 years; and if not sentenced to death, punishment with whipping of not less than 12 strokes.
Goh, Farose, Saidina and Abdul Hadi were convicted of having murdered Catherine Chong at a parking lot in front of a nightspot at Central Park Commercial Centre here, around 1.30am on Aug 9, 2007.
Based on facts of the case, Goh hatched a plan to cause hurt to his girlfriend, Chong, and had asked Farose, Abdul Hadi and Saidina to injure her face.
Farose, with brothers Abdul Hadi and Saidina, searched for Chong and found her at the nightspot. There, the brothers stabbed Chong in the neck and upper chest area.
It was reported that she died on the spot.
Farose, Abdul Hadi and Saidina were then paid RM1,600 to be shared among them after they informed Goh that they had completed the task. It was reported that this transaction took place underneath the Bintawa Bridge.
During the proceedings yesterday, DPP Mangaiarkarasi Krishnan submitted that based on the facts of this case, an imprisonment term was not suitable as punishment. She said in this case, about a week before the murder, the first applicant (Goh) had threatened to kill the victim, and also told her that he would ask people to cut off her hands and legs and disfigure her face.
“The victim did not deserve to die in this manner. The stab wound to the right side of her neck had severed the jugular vein, which led to excessive bleeding.
“The first applicant paid off the other applicants (Farose, Saidina and Abdul Hadi) a sum of RM1,600 to be shared among them. Was her life worth only RM1,600?” argued Mangaiarkarasi.
Goh was represented by counsels Chong Chieng Jen and Sim Kiat Leng, while Farose, Saidina and Abdul Hadi were represented by assigned counsel Daniel Ling.