Estate worker escapes gallows, gets 22 years' jail over colleague's death

This was after Mohamad Rosli Naqur Gani succeeded in his appeal at the Court of Appeal today to get his murder charge reduced to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The 41-year-old man was instead sentenced to 22 years in jail for killing R. Devadas, 60, at an unnumbered house in Chuan Leng Rubber Estate, Bellengu Halt, Mentakap, Pahang between 1.50 am and 11.50 am on April 17, 2017.

He was ordered to serve the sentence from April 17, 2017, the date of his arrest.

A three-man panel comprising Justices Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, Datuk P. Ravinthran and Datuk Hashim Hamzah allowed his appeal after finding that based on evidence, Mohamed Rosli's conviction for murder was not safe.

Justice Kamaludin, who was chairing the panel, said the High Court judge failed to consider Mohamad Rosli's entire defence that he was provoked.

Mohamad Rosli was sentenced to death by the Temerloh High Court on Oct 22, 2019 after he was found guilty of killing Devadas.

According to the evidence, Mohamad Rosli and the deceased always quarrelled as the former disliked the deceased's cooking and the deceased also accused Mohamad Rosli of not keeping food for him. Both of them and another worker were staying in a house (quarters) provided by their employer.

Earlier, Mohamad Rosli's lawyer S. Sundarajan argued that a fight broke out after a grave and sudden provocation by the deceased and that both were in a state of intoxication when the fight took place.

Deputy public prosecutor How May Ling urged the court to impose the maximum 30-year jail term provided under the Penal Code as the deceased's suffered a fractured rib cage from being hit with a wooden club and a sickle.