The Court of Appeal today upheld the 36-year jail sentence and 12 strokes of the cane imposed on five men, including two sets of brothers, for the murder of a man who was hacked to death with a sword in Besut, Terengganu.
A three-judge panel led by Datuk Azman Abdullah, alongside Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid, unanimously dismissed the appeals by all five appellants to overturn their convictions and sentences handed down by the Kuala Terengganu High Court on May 9, 2024.
The accused — Aizz Amidie Aziz, 32, Mohd Rizalman Awang, 36, his brother Zahaman Fairol, 39, Mohd Uwais Mat Nawi, 31, and his younger brother Mohd Hafify, 30 — were found guilty of murdering Mohd Shahrulanuar Dek Der, 22.
The offence was committed in a swampy area at an open field in Kampung Pengkalan Nyireh, Kampung Raja, between 4.40pm and 8.30pm on June 21, 2017, under Section 302 of the Penal Code read with Section 34.
In its judgment, the court said the prosecution’s evidence, including that of a protected witness, was consistent and credible, supporting the finding that all the appellants were involved in the attack.
The court also rejected the defence’s claim that another individual carried out the stabbing, describing it as an afterthought unsupported by evidence.
The judges ruled that the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt at the close of its case, and therefore there was no basis to disturb the High Court’s findings.
The jail terms for all five men were ordered to run from their respective arrest dates in July and August 2017.
Earlier, defence counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik had applied for the sentences to be reduced to 30 years, but the prosecution argued that the original sentence should be maintained to send a strong message against such violent crimes.
