The Malaysian Court of Appeal upheld the death sentence of six men who were found guilty of killing Deputy Public Prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais nine years ago on Thursday ( Mar 14 ).
They are original doctor Captain Dr R Kunaseegaran, 61, money merchant S Ravi Chandran, 53, and four additional poor men, R Dinishwaran, 32, A K Thinesh Kumar, 31, M Vishwanath, 34, and S Nimalan, 31.
A three-judge board made a unanimous decision to overturn the charm filed by the six people, which had convicted and sentenced them to death for the murder, on July 10, 2020, before a unanimous three-judge panels consisting of Judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, and Judge Azmi Ariffin.
Judge Hadhariah stated in the judge’s decision that the Supreme Court judge determined that the High Court judge did not violate the laws and facts after reviewing all the arguments raised by the High Court judge and the facts presented in court.
” The conviction imposed ( against the six men ) by the High Court was correct”, she said.
Judge Hadhariah argued that Morais ‘ crime was carefully planned, and that the state of the body when it was discovered demonstrated the resentment of all the accused.
If killing the victim was n’t enough, the victim’s car was also burned, and his personal belongings were taken away as well.
This death event qualifies as remarkable from a regular murder incident. Therefore, in our opinion, the punishment that commensurate ( with ) the offence committed is hang to death,” said Judge Hadhariah.
She added that when Morais ‘ body was discovered, it was completely unclothed ( but ) without shoes and had his hands tied behind his back with a tie.
The system is placed in a bucket in a baby position and has seven force scars or compression on its neck, shoulders, and back. Iron cable is used to tie the sack before being placed in the disc. Then, she said, concrete is poured into the roller barrel, where it is then dumped into a swamp.
According to her, forensic researchers determined that Morais ‘ death was caused by suffocation.
The accused also shared a common goal to murder Morais because Ravi Chandran, Dinishwaran, Thinesh Kumar, Vishwanath, and Nimalan were with them when their Triton vehicle collided with the deceased’s vehicle, according to the judge.
Judge Hadhariah claimed Kunaseegaran was even involved based on the fact that he merely grinned and counseled G Gunasekaran to remain calm and never interfere with the other accused’s affairs when the latter informed him about the blood coming from the drum chamber and that he was only partially involved.
Kunaseegaran even showed a photo of the deceased’s burning vehicles to Gunasekaran on his cell phone, according to Kunaseegaran, who added that because of all the issues, he would bear the costs of the other accused.
Judge Hadhariah claimed that Kunaseegaran wanted to kill Morais and that the other accused were his agencies.
Initial accusations of murder against Morais were dropped when Gunasekaran admitted guilt to the cost of disposing Morais ‘ figure in the Sessions Court. He was given a two-year prison sentence.
The trial therefore appointed Gunasekaran as a witness in the test for the six defendants.
The six men were found guilty of killing Morais and were sentenced to death by the High Court on July 10, 2020.
On September 4, 2015, they were accused of killing Morais, 55, at a scene along Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul and Jalan USJ 1/6D, Subang Jaya, between 7am and 8pm.
The dying was reported missing on the day of the incident and was last seen leaving the property in a Proton Perdana vehicle to his company at the Attorney General’s Chambers in Putrajaya.
On September 16, the same year, his body was discovered in a disc filled with practical at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya.