SEREMBAN: A 54-year-old labourer has been sentenced to four years in jail by the High Court here after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of culpable homicide.
Chow Keak Fah had earlier pleaded not guilty to a charge of murdering 54-year-old Lim Kim Yong after it was read to him in Mandarin before judge Datin Rohani Ismail.
However, he did not contest a lesser charge under Section 304(b) of the Penal Code with causing death without intention read together with Section 34 of the same legislation.
Offenders can be jailed up to 10 years or a fine or both upon conviction.
He was charged with unintentionally causing Lim’s death with another accused between 9pm and 10pm on Feb 8, 2008, at a restaurant in Mantin.
When delivering her verdict, judge Rohani advised the accused to learn from the episode.
"You need to look after yourself and in the future, try not to blindly follow others," she said.
Counsel for the accused G. Subramaniam Nair urged the court to impose a lenient sentence as the accused only wanted to stop a fight between the deceased and another accused who was his (Chow's) brother-in-law.
"The accused was not at the restaurant when a fight between the deceased and another accused broke out.
"He was brought to the restaurant and wanted to stop the fight but got somehow dragged into it," he said, adding that the accused was also remorseful and wished to apologise to the deceased's family.
Chow was charged with murder on Aug 14, 2020, and has since been in police custody.
Subramaniam, who was assisted by Devika Suppiah, had also submitted a representation to the Attorney General asking that his client's charge be reduced.
According to the facts of the case, Chow was at home when a friend, who happened to be at the restaurant, came and told him about the fight.
They both then rushed to the restaurant in the friend’s car and the accused tried to stop the fight.
Chow then picked up an iron rod to try and stop the fight but it somehow struck the deceased on his head causing him to fall.
A post-mortem report stated the victim's death was caused by a "head injury due to blunt force impact" and “coronary artery disease" being a contributing factor.
The other accused, Yap Kim Tiam was initially charged with murder of the deceased on Aug 24, 2009.
However, this was reduced to culpable homicide and the accused was sentenced to serve five years in jail.
Deputy public prosecutor Alauddin Baharom urged the court to provide a sentence that commensurate the crime as a life has been lost.
