PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): Serial rapist Rabidin Satir, nicknamed Rambo Bentong, failed to overturn his death sentence for killing a Forestry Department employee almost six years ago.
The appeal was against the second death sentence meted out on the 48-year-old man.
He received his first death sentence after he was convicted for murdering a 17-year-old girl in 2009.
In Thursday's (Aug 16) case, a five-man Federal Court bench led by Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum dismissed Rabidin's final appeal against his conviction and death sentence for the murder of the male victim.
In this case, the 31-year-old Forestry Department employee was struck on the head repeatedly with a gun while he and his wife were asleep in the living room of their house.
In a unanimous decision, Justice Malanjum said Rabidin's conviction and sentence by the High Court was right based on evidence adduced in the trial.
He also upheld Rabidin's convictions and jail sentences on four other charges, including two for raping the deceased's wife.
Rabidin, who was clad in a red and white prison uniform, did not show any emotion.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk David Wong Dak Wah and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Hasan Lah, Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed and Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh also sat on the bench.
On Dec 3, 2015, the Pahang High Court sentenced Rabidin to death for committing the murder at a house in the Forestry Department Housing on Jalan Tras, Bentong, Pahang on Nov 3, 2012.
The High Court had also sentenced Rabidin to 12 years' jail and two strokes of the rotan for brandishing a gun at the victim; eight years' jail and two strokes of the cane for robbery; and 12 years' jail and eight strokes of the cane for raping the deceased's wife.
The four offences were also committed at the same place, date and time.
Rabidin lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal, which upheld his conviction and sentences for all four charges on March 15, 2017.
In 2014, Rabidin was sentenced to death by the Temerloh High Court for killing the teenager, whose body was found with slash wounds on her neck in a house at Kampung Ketari Bentong, Pahang. He lost his appeals at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.
He was also charged with raping the girl, but was acquitted of the charge as the court could not ascertain whether the rape was committed while the victim was alive or after her death. The prosecution did not appeal the decision.
Rabidin was represented by court-appointed lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali while deputy public prosecutor K. Mangai appeared for the prosecution in the matter Thursday at the Federal Court. – Bernama
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