KOTA TINGGI: An excavator driver was charged in the Magistrate's Court today with murdering his wife with an air rifle at his house in Taman Sri Saujana, here, earlier this month.

The accused, Mohd Hanafi Patahur Rahim, 43, nodded and replied "faham" (understand) after the charge against him was read out in front of Magistrate Rashidah Baharom.

However, no plea was recorded from the father of four.

He was charged with killing clerk Noor Hasliza Alias, 38, who was reportedly asleep, at a house in Taman Sri Saujana, here, at 3.30 am on March 1.

The man was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty upon conviction.

The court set April 18 for re-mention of the case pending chemical and autopsy reports.

Meanwhile, Mohd Hanafi was later sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Sessions Court, here, today for possessing two rifles and 64 bullets without a valid licence.

Judge Zahilah Mohammad Yusoff passed the sentence after the accused pleaded guilty to four charges, and he was ordered to serve the jail term concurrently from the date of his arrest on March 2.

The accused was sentenced to five years’ jail for the first charge, four years for the second, six years for the third and five years for the fourth, meaning he only has to serve six years in jail.

The accused was charged with committing the offence at Taman Sri Saujana and Ladang Pasir Panjang here at 11.30 am and 9 pm on March 1.

During the four-hour proceedings, the prosecution was conducted by Johor prosecution director Tengku Amir Zaki Tengku Abd Rahman and deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Syafiq Mohd Ghazali, while the accused was unrepresented.

Earlier, before the charges against Mohd Hanafi were read out, the accused simply bowed and occasionally looked behind from the dock.

On March 5, the media reported that the mystery of a woman's disappearance was finally answered when her body was found in a water barrel buried in a farm in Bandar Penawar, about 30 kilometres from the scene, around 4.30 am on the day of the incident.

-- BERNAMA