PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here yesterday upheld the conviction and death sentence of three men, including a former Institut Kemahiran Bina Negara (IKN) student, for the murder of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) lecturer Bakarudin Busu 13 years ago.
A five-member bench led by Federal Court judge Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop had unanimously dismissed the final appeal of former sales executive Sulkarnain Alias, former forklift driver Noorman Ab Wahab and Azizul Azual Jailani.
In his decision, Justice Ahmad said the High Court judge was right in finding the three of them guilty for the murder of the 35-year-old sports science lecturer.
He said the Court of Appeal had already considered the issues raised by the appellants and had agreed with the findings made by the High Court.
Therefore, he said there was no merit in the arguments raised by the counsels for the appellants in the Federal Court.
Sulkarnain, 37, Noorman, 36, and Azizul, 31, were found guilty and sentenced to death by the High Court in Shah Alam in 2009 for killing Bakarudin at Jalan SS19/6, Subang Jaya, at 9.30pm on Feb 12, 2002. Azizul was 18 years of age at the time of the incident.
Bakarudin’s semi-charred remains were found in a drain in Subang Jaya. Evidence revealed that he was kicked, punched and slashed to death before his body was torched that night.
Initially, there were four persons charged for the murder, but the High Court, in 2007, acquitted the fourth accused, also former IKN student Muhamad Zakwan Ahmad Zaki, 29, without calling him to enter his defence. The prosecution had appealed against his acquittal but could not serve the notice on him.
Sulkarnain’s former girlfriend and a former UiTM student, Siti Rahmah Azman Subramaniam, 35, was also charged with murdering Bakarudin, but was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal in 2003 after the prosecution offered her to be its witness.
The incident happened after Sulkarnain found out that the deceased had been calling his then girlfriend who was expelled from UiTM, asking her to spend a night with him in return for helping her in her appeal to be reinstated.
Sulkarnain was represented by counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Noorman by K Viknesvaran and Azizul by Haniff Khatri Abdulla, while deputy public prosecutor Tengku Amir Zaki Tengku Abdul Rahman appeared for the prosecution. —Bernama