Sim (left), Lim (fourth left), Shankar (second right) and Ling (right) with their clients after the judgement.
KUCHING: Three walked out as free men from the High Court yesterday after being acquitted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder of a man at Masja three years ago.
Yusman Abu Talip, 25, Muhammad Osman Usup, 26, and Awang Mustaffar Awang Mohammad, 28, were discharged and acquitted at the end of the prosecution case.
The presiding judge Alwi Abdul Wahab found that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the trio. He ruled that the star witness’evidence was unreliable and contradicted other eye-witnesses. A total of 23 witnesses were called to testify in the case.
The trio were accused of causing the death of Mohammad Syamsul Izwan Mohammad Suhaili, then 24-year-old from Kampung Bintawa Ulu, at the grounds of Baitulmakmur building in Masja area, Petra Jaya between 10pm and 10.20pm on April 22, 2013.
They were initially charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code that provides for a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Later the charge was reduced to Section 304(a) under the same code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. They had been remanded for three years as their alleged offence was not bailable.
The defence counsel comprised Shankar Ram and Daniel Ling representing Osman with Lim Lian Kee and Sim Tong Poh representing Yusman and Mustaffar respectively.