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PUTRAJAYA: Six former students of the National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) were sentenced to death by a Malaysian court on Wednesday (July 24) for the murder of navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnan seven years ago.
The Court of Appeal, led by Justice Hadariah Syed Ismail, overturned the initial 18-year jail sentence handed down by the Kuala Lumpur High Court and reinstated the mandatory death penalty under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
In his ruling, Justice Hadariya said the three-judge bench found that five students took turns to iron the body of the deceased, including his private parts, with a steam iron, while the last student, Abdul Hakim, was involved in inciting and directing the other five to do so.
The six students are Mohammed Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Mohammed Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Mohammed Najib Mohammed Razi, Mohammed Afif Najimuddin Azahat, Mohammed Shobirin Sabri and Abdul Hakim Mohd Ali.
“We have therefore unanimously decided to sentence only a single sentence to the six accused and to take them to the place of execution to be sentenced to death by hanging.
“The court, therefore, quashes the 18-year jail term imposed on the six accused by the high court and commutes it to death penalty,” the bench said.
Five of the students initially faced murder charges under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
Abdul Hakim was charged as an accomplice under Article 109 of the code, which also provides for the mandatory death penalty.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court subsequently found all six guilty of intentionally causing hurt to Zulfarhan, contrary to Section 304(a) of the Penal Code, but if the act was intended to cause death, it is punishable by up to 30 years’ jail and a fine.
The six were accused of committing the acts between 4.45am and 5.45am on May 22, 2017, in a room at the Jebat dormitory building of UPNM.
Zulfarhan died on June 1, 2017 at the Serdang Hospital.
The three-judge bench also overturned the three-year jail term handed down to 12 other alumni of the same university for wounding Zulfarhan, which was originally set at four years.
They were convicted of intentionally wounding Zulfarhan to force him to confess to stealing a laptop and were charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years’ jail and a fine upon conviction.
The 28-year-olds are accused of committing the acts between May 21, 2017 and May 22, 2017, in two rooms at the Jebbat Residence Hall at Confederation University.
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