‘My brother has lost everything, including his family’

PETALING JAYA: Since being handed the life term in 1994, A. Rajeswari’s older brother, now 53, has lost everything, including his family.

While he is in jail serving a sentence for committing robbery with a firearm, his wife remarried while his two children died, said Rajeswari.

“He had a son and daughter under three when he left. His daughter died of cancer when she was 10 years old, while his 22-year-old son was found hanged in an oil palm estate two years ago.

“He could not attend their funerals and that of his father too.

“The abolition will give hope and motivate death row prisoners to turn over a new leaf,” said Rajeswari, who lives in Kuala Selangor.

She praised the move to abolish the mandatory death penalty, saying that it gives hope to those who have become better people.

She said the mandatory death sentence is an infringement of human rights, and every offender should be allowed time to repent and turn his life around.

“All hope is lost when one is dealt with the death sentence or life imprisonment,” she added.

Rajeswari said her brother, who is serving his sentence in Melaka, is hopeful of receiving a pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong someday.