Court reduces elderly man's jail term to 30 years for neighbour's murder

 

The appellate court has allowed an elderly man’s appeal to reduce his jail sentence to 30 years over the murder of his 77-year-old neighbour four years ago.

A three-person Court of Appeal bench chaired by judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim this morning unanimously cut down Mohamad Shaharudin Zakaria’s initial 38-year jail sentence over the 2020 murder of Zaharah Khalid.

Speaking on behalf of fellow appellate bench members Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, Zaidi said they took into account the appellant’s age and health issues.

Earlier during proceedings, the 69-year-old’s counsel Rajit Singh pleaded for a lesser jail term as the appellant was suffering from lung infection, asthma and high blood pressure.

The lawyer submitted that a long prison sentence would have serious consequences on Shaharudin due to the appellant being elderly and his health status.

Deputy public prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz objected to the appeal, seeking the 38-year jail sentence to be maintained as Shaharudin was spared the rotan stroke.

The prosecutor however said that if the appellate court is still inclined to reduce the sentence, it should be 35 years imprisonment.

On July 26, 2023, the Ipoh High Court meted out the sentence after finding Shaharudin guilty of murdering Zaharah.

Trial judge Abdul Wahab Mohamed ordered Shaharudin to serve the sentence from the date of arrest on May 3, 2020.

‘Dragged and thrown into ditch’

Shaharudin was convicted of intentionally causing Zaharah's death at a house in Kampung Pasir Panjang Laut, Seri Manjung, Manjung at about 8pm on May 3, 2020.

He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carried the optional death penalty, due to the Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty Act.

“The victim was dragged and thrown into a ditch. The accused intended to kill her.

“In addition, there were other injuries on the deceased’s body as shown by the post-mortem,“ said deputy public prosecutor Liyana Zawani Mohd Radzi when seeking the High Court to impose an appropriate penalty.

During the High Court proceedings, Hawa Isa, 48, one of the victim’s 12 children, spoke about the effect of her mother’s murder on the family, especially on her disabled sibling who was close to their mother.

“After the incident, people accused my mother of unspeakable things... I hope he gets the appropriate punishment for what he did to my mother,“ she said.

Liyana had sought for Shaharudin to be sentenced to death by hanging due to the brutal act.

Shaharudin’s counsel M Saravanan pleaded for the trial court to reduce the sentence to a custodial term due to the accused’s age so that he “can spend the rest of his life in prison in peace”.

A total of 13 prosecution witnesses and a single defence witness testified throughout the trial which began in 2021. - Mkini