PUTRAJAYA: A rubber tapper escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal today commuted the death sentence imposed on him for the murder of two elderly men to a jail term.
A three-member bench led by Datuk Azman Abdullah ordered Muhammad Huzairi Razali, 41, to serve 30 years in prison for each of the two charges.
The bench, which also comprised Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid and High Court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh, ordered Huzairi to be given 24 strokes of the cane.
Azman, who delivered the court’s decision, said there was no error by the High Court in rejecting Huzairi’s defence of unsoundness of mind and that his conviction was safe.
However, he said the court partly allowed Huzairi’s appeal on sentence, as the court was empowered to commute the death sentence to imprisonment.
Accordingly, Azman said the court sentenced Huzairi to 30 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for each charge.
He ordered the prison sentences to be served consecutively as the offences involved two victims and were committed at different locations.
On the first charge, Huzairi was accused of murdering Ku Cheng Liong @ Ku Sot, 71, at a coffee shop on Jalan Abdullah, Pekan Buloh Kasap, Segamat, Johor, at 5.50pm on July 12, 2019.
He was also charged with murdering Ng Wan Hong, 67, at a durian stall on Jalan Ibrahim, Pekan Buloh Kasap, at 6.03pm the same day.
On Jan 27, 2024, the High Court convicted Huzairi on both charges and sentenced him to death.
According to the facts of the case, Huzairi first attacked Ku with a parang at the coffee shop, killing him instantly.
Huzairi then went to the durian stall, where he stabbed Ng in the chest during a struggle. Ng succumbed to his injuries at the Buloh Kasap Health Clinic.
In his defence, Huzairi claimed he could not remember the incidents and said he was suffering from a psychiatric illness.
Lawyer Abraham Mathew appeared for Huzairi, while deputy public prosecutor Siti Rafidah Zainuddin prosecuted.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
