The Court of Appeal has upheld the 30-year prison sentence imposed on a former Rela volunteer for killing his best friend in 2021.
A three-member panel comprising Justices Hashim Hamzah, Azmi Ariffin and Firuz Jaffril dismissed Ong Chow Lee’s appeal against his High Court conviction and sentence.
The court’s grounds of judgment dated Aug 27 said it also upheld Ong’s 13-year jail term for attempting to kill the nephew of the deceased.
Both sentences are to run concurrently.
The two offences were committed behind a Chinese temple at Taman Raya Wakaf Tapai in Marang, Terengganu, between 1.20pm and 1.55pm on July 23, 2021.
According to previous reports, the deceased, Fong Swee Fuan, 65, was a former Marang MCA division chief.
Ong, 61, had opened fire after a dispute, killing Fong and injuring Teo Hock Beng, 48, who was shot in the left hand.
He pleaded guilty to both charges in the Kuala Terengganu High Court in July last year and was sentenced to 30 and 13 years’ imprisonment, respectively, to run concurrently from the date of his arrest on July 23, 2021.
During the appeal, Ong wanted the Court of Appeal to send his case back to the High Court for a retrial, claiming that he was misled by his former lawyer into pleading guilty and believing that he would receive only a 15-year sentence.
However, the minimum sentence for murder is 30 years.
Ong also claimed he was illiterate and said the court should have provided a Mandarin interpreter during the High Court proceedings, as he did not fully understand the nature of the consequences of his guilty plea because of the language barrier.
In the grounds of judgment, Hashim ruled that the issues raised by Ong were baseless.
He said the High Court judge had confirmed with Ong and his lawyer that Ong understood Malay, and that based on the evidence, there was no indication that he did not understand the nature and consequences of the plea of guilt.
The court also found that Ong had admitted to the facts of the case, identified the prosecution’s exhibits, and was represented by three lawyers during the plea recording.
“We unanimously find this appeal is without merit, and the conviction (against the appellant) is safe. The prison sentence imposed is also the minimum prescribed by law,” said Hashim.
