Appeal Court upholds death sentence on three friends for 2016 murder

PUTRAJAYA: Three friends who were convicted of killing a man three years ago in which the body of the victim has yet to be found had their death sentences upheld by the Court of Appeal today.

A three-member bench led by Judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah unanimously rejected the appeal by Mohd Zulhiami Md Darus, 36, Siti Nor Asiah Abdul Wahab, 31, and Muhammad Rahmat Nazarudin, 28, to set aside the Shah Alam High Court's decision on Oct 24, 2019.

"We found the verdict of the (High Court) judge to be safe based on the whole evidence. As such the appeal is dismissed and the conviction upheld," Justice Hanipah, who sat with Judges Datuk Wira Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Datuk Nordin Hassan, said.

Mohd Zulhiami and Siti Nor Asiah were charged with planning and abetting with Muhammad Rahmat to murder Mohammad Fairul Haqiemie at an apartment in Taman Sentosa in Klang between 12.30 am and 1 am on August 30 in 2016.

They were charged under Section 109 Penal Code read together with Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

The case was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Mukhzany Fariz Mohd while lawyers Datuk Hanif Hassan, Ahmad Ishrakh Saad and Gabriel Susayan represented Mohd Zulhiami, Siti Nor Asiah and Muhammad Rahmat respectively.

Earlier, Gabriel in his subsmission, said there was not a single witness who testified in court who had seen Muhammad Rahmat at the scene of the crime, namely the apartment of Siti Nor Asiah's boyfriend known as Zarul, the seventh prosecution witness.

He sad the trial judge had erred in facts and law after failing to consider that Zarul was an accomplice.

"The seventh prosecution witness is an accomplice as he testified that the incident happened at his home and he has helped rolled up the body with a mattress and thrown it into the river," he said.

Mohd Mukhzany, however, submitted that Zarul could not have been an accomplice to the murder as there were no facts from the defence to prove that he hit the victim, adding that he was in fact an eyewitness to the victim being beaten up by Muhammad Rahmat.

-- BERNAMA