Apex court commutes death sentences of 2 men

 

The Federal Court ordered former labourer Daud Ahmad and former cook Othman A Aziz to serve their sentences from their respective dates of arrest.

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court today commuted the death sentence of a father-of-five to 33 years in prison for murdering his ex-wife in a house in Segamat, Johor, 19 years ago.

The three-member panel comprising Justices Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Rhodzariah Bujang and Nordin Hassan set aside the death sentence imposed on Daud Ahmad, 54, after granting his review application under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023, which came into force last year.

The court ordered the former village labourer to serve his prison sentence from the date of arrest on Aug 27, 2005. Daud has already served 19 years in Simpang Renggam prison, Johor.

Earlier, Daud’s lawyer, Radzi Yatiman, asked the court to set aside the death penalty and commute it to a 31 to 33 years prison sentence without caning, taking into account that he is now more than 50 years old.

“In this case, Daud surrendered himself to the police, and no weapons were used. Based on the testimony of the eighth prosecution witness, a pathologist, the cause of death was determined to be ligature strangulation, indicating that the deceased was strangled with a scarf.

“The applicant has sincerely repented, and all five of his children took turns visiting him in prison,” the lawyer said.

On Nov 28, 2009, the Muar High Court sentenced Daud to death for the murder of restaurant worker, Mimi Afiza Tamby, 31, at an unnumbered house in Kampung Lubok Batu, Segamat, Johor, between 1.30am and 2.30am on Aug 26, 2005.

On May 31, 2012, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision, and his subsequent appeal was also dismissed by the Federal Court on Sept 4, 2013.

Deputy public prosecutor Asmah Musa said the prosecution did not oppose the request but asked for a sentence of between 35 and 40 years.

Meanwhile in the same court, former cook Othman A Aziz, 72, had his death sentence commuted to 31 years in prison.

Harmindar ordered the man to serve his prison term from the date of his arrest on May 3, 2011.

On June 26, 2012, the Alor Setar High Court sentenced Othman to death for killing Ratna Suffizahriyanti Omar, 23, in a house in Jalan Stadium, Alor Setar, between 8.45pm on May 2, 2011, and 12.45am the next day.

Othman lost his appeals at the Court of Appeal on March 11, 2014, and the Federal Court on Jan 19, 2015, respectively.

Nik Ikhwan Nik Mahamud, representing Othman, said his client had surrendered to the police after the incident.

“My client had fully cooperated in this case, and he also suffers from cataract that requires follow-up treatment at Serdang Hospital,” he said. - FMT