Judge Hadhariah claimed that the compulsory death penalty under the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 2023, which became effective on March 16, 2023, includes a death sentence or prison sentence of no less than 30 years or a maximum of 40 years, as well as a maximum of 12 cane strokes.
However, the Court of Appeal courts, which included Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Judge Azmi Ariffin, unanimously decided that “only one” statement was correct.
According to Malay Mail, the Court of Appeal magistrates listed nine factors that contributed to the severe penalties imposed on the six accused.
These include the reality that Mr. Zulfarhan was honest and that the victim’s hands and legs were bound as a hot iron was pressed on his body and continued despite his cries of pain as a result of the activities of five of the accused.
They even noted that Mr. Zulfarhan’s figure had 90 lose marks, with the exception of the face and back of the palms, and that he had been kept secret from teachers to prevent being discovered, as well as that they had not taken him to the hospital to seek medical attention despite being told to do so by a physician.
REASON FOR OVERTURNED HIGH COURT DECISION
The High Court earlier made the decision to convict the six of the lesser counts of culpable homicide because it felt that the court was required by previous court decisions, which required the identification of the most serious injury and the evidence of death intent to convict a person of murder.
In its decision, the High Court stated that it is unknown which accident led to Mr. Zulfarhan’s death and that it was illogical to establish without a doubt that Mr. Zulfarhan’s injuries were typically sufficient to cause death.
The High Court’s decision was incorrect, according to the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, adding that the prosecution only needed to establish that the six had intended to inflict bodily harm.
Additionally, it stated that the prosecution had established all four of the allegations against five of the six accused in the murder charge. According to Malay Mail, their actions were intended to inflict” severe burns” on Mr. Zulfarhan, which was typically enough to cause death.
Meanwhile, the sixth person- Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali- who was charged with abetting Mr Zulfarhan’s death, was also found guilty of murder.
The Court of Appeal determined that Zulfarhan was involved in crimes committed by the five other accused as he had instructed them to do, but he did not press the hot iron on Zulfarhan’s body.