Appellate court acquits man of disabled stepsister-in-law's murder
PETALING JAYA : A senior citizen was acquitted and discharged by the Court of Appeal today, which set aside his conviction and death sentence for the murder of his disabled stepsister-in-law six years ago.
A three-member panel, comprising Justices Hashim Hamzah, Zaini Mazlan and Noorin Badaruddin, unanimously allowed Johari Ng Abdullah's appeal against the High Court's decision delivered in January last year.
Hashim held that the circumstantial evidence adduced during the trial was insufficient to sustain a conviction.
'Therefore, we find the conviction to be unsafe. As such, the conviction and sentence are set aside, and the appellant's appeal is allowed,' Bernama reported him as saying.
Johari, 66, a former security guard, had initially been sentenced to death by the High Court for the murder of Nor Izzati Ghazali, 26, who had dwarfism.
He had been charged with committing the offence at a unit at Villa Apartment on Jalan Temenggong 19, off Jalan Sungai Jati in Klang, Selangor, at 2pm on Feb 19, 2019.
In today's proceedings, Johari's counsel, Hafizuddin Salehuddin, argued that the trial judge had erred in failing to consider the reasonable possibility of another individual, namely, the deceased's stepsister, being involved in the commission of the offence.
'There is no irresistible conclusion that the appellant was the one who caused the death of the deceased. We respectfully request the court to acquit and discharge him,' said Hafizuddin, who was assisted by Hilmi Zawawi.
Deputy public prosecutor Faizal @ Amrin Noor Hadi asserted that the trial judge had not erred in his findings, and urged the court to uphold the conviction and sentence.
According to the facts of the case, a neighbour said in a police report that the deceased had previously complained to him and his wife about being physically assaulted and abused by Johari.
A post-mortem examination revealed 24 clusters of injuries distributed across the deceased's body.
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