Appeal rejected, ex-driver to hang

Hanafi: Lost his final avenue for appeal after the Federal Courtupheld the death sentence on the former bus driver

PUTRAJAYA: Former bus driver Hanafi Mat Hassan will face the gallows for the rape and murder of his passenger Noor Suzaily Mukhtar in 2000, after he exhausted his final avenue for appeal. 

A panel of five judges of the Federal Court unanimously upheld the death sentence on the 38-year-old man, who looked unperturbed by the judgment yesterday. 

“We are unanimous in our decision to dismiss this appeal,” said Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad, who chaired the panel. 

“No question of law has been raised which necessitates written grounds to be given after this.” 

The other members on the Bench were Justices Alaudin Sheriff, Arifin Zakaria, Abdul Aziz Mohamed and Azmel Ma’amor.  

Noor Suzaily: Sustained 44external injuries

Hanafi had claimed trial to raping and murdering Noor Suzaily at Lorong Pegaga in Taman Chi Liung, Klang, and the then Bukit Tinggi housing project in Klang between 8.50am and 9.15am on Oct 7, 2000. 

On April 26, 2002, Shah Alam High Court Judge Justice Hishamudin Mohd Yunus found Hanafi guilty of the crimes and ordered him to be hanged for the murder and to receive the maximum jail term of 20 years as well as 12 strokes of the rotan for the rape. 

On Aug 12, last year, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against the convictions and sentences. 

On Monday, Hanafi’s court-assigned counsel Hamid Sultan Abu Backer claimed that he should have been convicted of manslaughter and not murder. 

He argued that Hanafi, who is twice divorced, could have killed the woman during the rape.  

Attorney-General’s Chambers deputy chief prosecutor Hanafiah Zakaria, who argued against the appeal, submitted that the death sentence had been correctly meted out on Hanafi for committing murder because Noor Suzaily, 24, was still alive at the time of the rape. 

“The medical evidence showed that she sustained 44 external injuries and fracture of one neck bone,” he pointed out. 

“Death came as a result of ligature strangulation of her neck. The only conclusion is that the person who caused the injuries had intended to commit murder.”  

He added that DNA results showed that the seminal stains found on the computer engineer’s remains belonged to Hanafi. 

Outside the courtroom, an upset Hanafi fended off photographers, kicking at their cameras.