KOTA KINABALU: A salesman who caused the death of his wife by stepping on her stomach and damaging her liver, and produced a fake Malaysian identity card (MyKad) when sending her for treatment at a hospital, was jailed a total of 21 years by the Sessions Court here yesterday.
Judge Dean Wayne Daly found Mohd Azmil Abbas, 36, guilty of committing both the offences as the trial judge held that the accused had failed to cast doubt on the prosecution’s case.
On the first count, the unrepresented accused was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for committing culpable homicide not amounting to the murder his spouse aged 26 at a house at Kampung Somboi in Kinarut, Papar on September 1, 2013
He was convicted under Section 304 (a) of the Penal Code which is punishable by 30 years’ jail and a fine upon conviction.
On the second charge, the accused was also found guilty of having the photocopy of the fake MyKad under the name of Ismail Musa bearing numbers 780816-12-6183 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Damai in Luyang, on September 10.
The offence is framed under Rule 25(1) (e) of the National Registration Regulations which carries a maximum jail of three years and a fine of up to RM20,000, upon conviction.
The court ordered the accused to serve his jail terms concurrently.
Apart from that, the judge also ordered the accused to pay RM10,000 in compensation to the victim’s family and if he failed to do so, he would face another six months’ jail.
In mitigation, the accused told the court that he had no intention to injure the victim and as a husband and a human, he had taken a reasonable action by bringing the victim to get treatment at the hospital.
The accused also urged the court to impose a lenient sentence on him and thanked to court for being fair throughout the case.
In reply, deputy public prosecutor Nartiah F. Mirchelle Sambatan pressed for a heavier sentence be given on the accused.
She said this case was a serious one as one’s life was lost and this case was also considered as domestic violence as the accused had beaten his wife thereby causing her death.
The prosecution further explained that the accused, who was supposed to protect his wife, had instead hit, kicked and stepped on her stomach.
She also said seven medical officers had testified that the victim had died due to liver damage and because of that the victim was in coma for one month.
She said the accused had brought the victim to the hospital and had introduced himself as the victim’s brother by producing a copy of a fake identity card to avoid from being recognized by the hospital staff.
The prosecution said the accused had hidden this matter from the victim’s family and the victim’s family members only came to know about the victim’s condition one week later after the police had informed them.
She then said this incident had occurred a few times but the victim did not confide to her family.
The victim’s mother, who was present in court, was given a chance to speak and said she would be more careful next time so that the incident would not happen again.
The prosecution had called 19 witnesses to testify against the accused in the trial and the defence had produced two witnesses, including the accused.