Three acquitted in killing of man at petrol station
Three men escaped the gallows after the High Court here found them not guilty for the murder of a man at a petrol station.
The court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against Gan Jia Ji, 22, Yip Kah Hou, 26, and Woon Kian Hui, 25.
According to the charge sheet, Gan and five other suspects who are still at large allegedly murdered Tan Aik Chai, 44, at a petrol station along Jalan Sri Pelangi in Taman Pelangi here at around 7.30pm on Dec 17, 2017.
He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Yip and Woon were accused of abetting the murder together with two other persons who remain at large.
Both of them were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code read together with Section 109 and Section 34 of the same Act, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
In giving her decision, judicial commissioner Dr Shahnaz Sulaiman said the eyewitnesses at the petrol station could not identify the accused while the closed-circuit television (CCTV) images were blurry.
“The DNA evidence that was taken did not match the blood sample taken at the scene. Besides, no investigations were carried out on the alibi.
“The prosecution also failed to connect a white BMW car with the murder, ” she said before acquitting and discharging the three.
(On Dec 17, 2017, a video clip taken by a bystander was uploaded online, showing Tan being dragged and stabbed by four people before being run over twice with a white BMW. He had earlier stopped at the petrol station to check his car tyres when he was attacked.)
Deputy public prosecutor was Suriyani Ujang.
Lawyers Datin Freda Sabapathy, Foo Fang Leong, Che Azlin Farahanis Evani and Veeranesh Babu represented Gan.
Yip’s lawyer is Chuah Shyue Chien, while Ramkarpal Singh and Harshaan Zamani represented Woon.