Two men, originally sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment each for culpable homicide, now have to serve double the prison time after the Court of Appeal found them guilty of murder today.
L Gopu, 44, and V Suresh, 45, were originally convicted by the High Court for causing the death of an acquaintance, Aris Nakam, 41, at an oil palm plantation at Kampung SC in Layang-Layang, Kluang, Johor, at about 6.30pm on Sept 13, 2015,
A three-member appellate panel, comprising Justices Azman Abdullah, Noorin Badaruddin and Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz, today allowed the prosecution’s appeal to reinstate the original murder charges.
This sets aside the March 3, 2024 decision by the Muar High Court, which had reduced the charges to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and sentenced each man to 15 years in prison.
The appellate court also ordered both men to receive 12 strokes of the cane. Their sentences commence from the dates of their arrest on Sept 24 and 25, 2015.
Noorin said the appellate court found that the High Court had erred by amending the charges to culpable homicide despite sufficient evidence to support a murder conviction.
“We find that the injuries inflicted by (the two men) were intended to cause bodily harm sufficient to result in death, amounting to the act of murder,” she said.
She said the High Court had also erred in deciding that although the victim had died from severe injuries, the respondents had no intent to kill based on strong evidence from a forensic medical expert and an eyewitness,
Noorin said the forensic expert’s evidence confirmed that the injuries concentrated on the deceased’s face and head and were consistent with the weapon used, and were fatal in nature.
According to the facts of the case, the forensic expert who conducted the post-mortem found 42 injuries on the deceased, confirmed to be caused by blunt trauma to the head.
Deputy public prosecutor Asnawi Abu Hanipah, who appeared for the prosecution, told the court that Gopu, a factory worker, and Suresh, a heavy machinery operator, were nearing the end of their 15-year prison terms and would soon be released if the original charges were not reinstated.
He also noted that the third accused, P Rengadorai, had completed a 13-year sentence and had already been released. The prosecution’s earlier appeal in Rengadorai’s case was struck out because of his unavailability.
Gopu was represented by lawyers T Vijaya Sandran and V Pushparajan, while Suresh was defended by S Vijaya Retnam @ Veizay, Subash Ramasamy and Khairuzzaman Ridha.
