ALOR STAR: A former soldier escaped the gallows after his death sentence was commuted to 38 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend in Gunung Inas, Baling 10 years ago.
The decision was made by a Federal Court panel of three judges led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, alongside Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judge Datuk Nordin Hassan.
The sentence is to run from his date of arrest on Sept 24, 2014.
The accused, Mohamad Yusyairi Saidin, 47, will also receive 12 strokes of the rotan under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
On Oct 7, 2014, the father of two was charged with the murder of Hasma Norlela Zaini, 53, whose body was found bound and naked at KM10 of the Gunung Inas rest area at Jalan Baling on Sept 21.
Hasma, a single mother of seven, had 17 stab wounds on her body. A pathology report said she died of stab wounds to the neck.
Yusyairi was attached to an army camp in Gerik, Perak at the time of his arrest.
On Sept 26, 2017, the Alor Star High Court sentenced him to death after finding him guilty of murder.
The Court of Appeal in Oct 2020 upheld the High Court's sentence while his subsequent appeal to the Federal Court in 2021 was also quashed.
During the proceeding today, the accused's counsel Hasnan Hamzah pleaded for a lighter sentence.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim proposed a punishment of a maximum of 40 years in jail due to the severity of his crime and the number of stab wounds inflicted on the victim.
Meanwhile, at the same proceedings today, the Federal Court panel also set aside a death sentence for a 53-year-old canteen operator previously found guilty of murder.
Abd Khalid Mat Isa had battered his girlfriend, Rohani Hashim, 30, to death and then slept with her corpse for a night, before burning it the next morning 10 years ago.
In July 2016, the High Court sentenced Abd Khalid to death after he pleaded guilty to the charge of murdering Rohani at his house in Jalan Pengkalan Datuk Keramat in Bukit Tengah, Bukit Mertajam, Penang, between 3pm on Sept 29 and about 6.40pm on Oct 1, 2014.
In December of the same year, the Court of Appeal sent the case back to the High Court for a retrial after ruling that his conviction was not safe.
Although represented by counsel, Abd Khalid once again pleaded guilty to the murder charge.
The High Court on Apr 30, 2019, convicted Abd Khalid of murder and sentenced him to death.
In mitigation at today's proceeding, counsel Rashid Zulkifli, who represented the accused, informed the judges that Abd Khalid was suffering from a severe mental disorder.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Fauziah Daud urged the court to sentence the accused to 35 years in jail due to the severity of his crime.
The Federal Court panel subsequently commuted the death sentence to 35 years in jail from the date of his arrest on Oct 1, 2014.