Woman jailed for homicide

IPOH: A 24-year-old housewife was sentenced to two years’ jail for culpable homicide for killing a man who allegedly repeatedly pressured her to have sex.

High Court judge Justice Zainal Adzam Abd Ghani found S. Kalaichelvi guilty of killing M. Kumaran, 30, at her home in Taman Bistari, Ayer Tawar, on Jan 7 last year between 3am and 3.30am.

”According to the facts of the case, the act was done in a cruel manner.

”The accused had also tried to dispose of the evidence after killing him with a stainless steel parang and a rod,” he said in his judgment here yesterday.

The prosecution had amended the charge from Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder which carries the mandatory death penalty to Section 304A for causing death by negligence.

The latter charge carries a maximum two years’ jail or a fine, or both upon conviction.

Justice Zainal Adzam ruled that the sentence would run from the date of her arrest on Jan 10 last year.

According to the facts of the case, Kalaichelvi had killed Kumaran using both weapons in self-defence.

During mitigation earlier, defence counsel Charan Singh said Kalaichelvi had acted in self-defence when Kumaran broke into her house and demanded that he “sleep with her”.

“Kalaichelvi was also pregnant at the time and was only protecting herself.

“She is a mother of three children, aged one, five and six,” Charan Singh said, adding that Kalaichelvi was also a first-time offender.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nur Laila Mohamed Nazil said a post mortem report showed that there were multiple slash wounds on the deceased’s head.

“The accused hacked the victim repeatedly on his head,” she said, urging the court to mete out a sentence commensurate with the offence.

Nur Laila also told the court that Kalaichelvi’s husband G. Kalipar, 26, would be charged under Section 201 for disposing of the evidence related to the killing.