Two brothers and their cousin heaved a sigh of relief as the High Court here today acquitted and discharged them for the murder of an unemployed man five years ago.
Judge Datuk Mohd Sofian Abdul Razak freed S.Manigumar, in his 40s, his brother S.Manimaran, 30s, and their cousin, S.Gopikumar, 30s, after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
In his judgement, Mohd Sofian said the victim, M.Sasi Kumar, was said to have borrowed some money from Manigumar and the three accused went to the victim's house to ask for repayment.
He said the witness in the case, Komathy, who is the victim's sister, in her testimony said she saw the trio came to their house and beat her brother.
However, Mohd Sofian said although the victim's sister was a credible witness, the court had to look at the case in a wider scope.
The judge said the failure of the prosecution to call two other individuals, namely Ravi, who was alleged to have admitted to the victim's uncle that he killed the victim, and Zulkifli, who allegedly lodged the police report after seeing the victim being beaten in his house, was found to have weakened their case.
Hence, he said the court decided to acquit and discharge the trio from the charge of murdering Sasi Kumar, 25.
The three men were charged, together with several other at large, for the murder of Sasi Kumar in front of a house at Block BG-06, Desa Putra Apartment, Jalan Bunga Raya 2, Medan Batu Caves, Gombak, at around 7 pm on March 5, 2008.
The charge under Section 149 of the Penal Code carries a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
A total of 21 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses were called throughout the trial.
Deputy public prosecutor Zainal Azwar Kamaruddin prosecuted, while the accused were represented by lawyers S.Ravichandran, S.S.Dev, K.Theivaendran and Rajpal Singh.
Judge Datuk Mohd Sofian Abdul Razak freed S.Manigumar, in his 40s, his brother S.Manimaran, 30s, and their cousin, S.Gopikumar, 30s, after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
In his judgement, Mohd Sofian said the victim, M.Sasi Kumar, was said to have borrowed some money from Manigumar and the three accused went to the victim's house to ask for repayment.
He said the witness in the case, Komathy, who is the victim's sister, in her testimony said she saw the trio came to their house and beat her brother.
However, Mohd Sofian said although the victim's sister was a credible witness, the court had to look at the case in a wider scope.
The judge said the failure of the prosecution to call two other individuals, namely Ravi, who was alleged to have admitted to the victim's uncle that he killed the victim, and Zulkifli, who allegedly lodged the police report after seeing the victim being beaten in his house, was found to have weakened their case.
Hence, he said the court decided to acquit and discharge the trio from the charge of murdering Sasi Kumar, 25.
The three men were charged, together with several other at large, for the murder of Sasi Kumar in front of a house at Block BG-06, Desa Putra Apartment, Jalan Bunga Raya 2, Medan Batu Caves, Gombak, at around 7 pm on March 5, 2008.
The charge under Section 149 of the Penal Code carries a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
A total of 21 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses were called throughout the trial.
Deputy public prosecutor Zainal Azwar Kamaruddin prosecuted, while the accused were represented by lawyers S.Ravichandran, S.S.Dev, K.Theivaendran and Rajpal Singh.
