KOTA KINABALU: A labourer yesterday lost his appeal against his death sentence at the Court of Appeal here yesterday for the conviction of murdering an elderly man.
Justice Datuk Linton Albert, who sat together with Justices Datuk Lim Yee Lan and Dato’ Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid, unanimously dismissed the appeal by Mohd Hussin Abd Karim, 25, who was represented by counsel Ram Singh.
The High Court here had on April 8, 2011, sentenced Mohd Hussin from Kampung Banjar, Keningau, to death for murdering the 52-year-old civil servant at the market ground in Keningau on May 10, 2009.
He was found guilty under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which is punishable by the mandatory death sentence, upon conviction.
The offence was committed with a friend known as Kampong who is still at large
Earlier, Ram submitted that from the evidence of three prosecution witnesses, it was Kampong’s sole act of inflicting such fatal blow to the deceased, hence there was no need to read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code; for example, in furtherance of the common intention of all each of such person is liable for that act in the same manner as if the act were done by him alone.
In reply, deputy public prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan argued that the appellant was the one who initiated the blow and was followed by Kampong and both had mercilessly beaten the deceased who was helpless considering that he was old and was drunk at that time.