The Court of Appeal has upheld an unemployed man’s sentence of seven years in prison for slashing the Besut police chief with a parang six years ago.
A three-judge panel led by Justice Che Ruzima Ghazali ruled that Nasli Nasir, 39, was sane when the offence was committed and that the defence had failed to prove that he had schizophrenia at the time.
The appellate court ruled that Nasli had failed to reach the threshold for the defence of insanity in applying for his sentence to be reduced, Harian Metro reported.
According to the facts of the case, Nasli was a neighbour of then Besut police chief Zamri Rowi. In August 2019, Zamri found that a coconut tree he had planted in front of his house had been uprooted and thrown into his compound.
Shortly after, Nasli arrived in front of Zamri’s home in a vehicle and scolded him for planting the tree, saying he did so without his permission.
Nasli then got down from the vehicle and chased Zamri with a parang, slashing him on the hand as Zamri blocked the blow to his head. This caused Zamri to lose his right thumb.
Nasli was later charged with causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine or whipping.
