PETALING JAYA: After 13 years of legal drama, a former Terengganu coach walked free from a manslaughter charge. He was accused of shooting a rambo-knife wielding intruder in his house.
Yesterday, the Sessions Court in Kuala Terengganu acquitted Zamil Ahmad Murad of a charge of intentionally causing the death of Syed Haikar Iskandar Syed Mahdzar on Feb 1, 2010.
The legal drama began after the shooting, with Zamil being charged with murder on Feb 10, 2010, followed by an application for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the then attorney general two days later and then an inquest in 2012 which held him criminally liable for the death.
Ten years later, on Feb 10, 2020, Zamil was again brought to court, this time for the current case of committing culpable homicide.
In finding Zamil not guilty, Sessions judge Nooriah Osman ruled that his defence had raised a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
“Having called for the defence, I have to examine if the defence version is the more probable and had raised a reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case.
“I have to examine the defence case in the context of the prima facie case.
“Enough doubts have been raised and in particular the descriptions of the attack by the deceased was supported by findings of the Rambo knife near the right hand of the deceased and the knife sheath on his waist.
“Bullet shells were found at the scene and the explanation of their distance (one is 1.4m and the other being 8m from the shooter) is not impossible to happen,” the judge ruled, before acquitting Zamil.
Zamil, 62, was charged with killing Syed Haikar Iskandar, 34, in a bush behind his house in Gong Badak, Kuala Nerus, between 4.15pm and 4.30pm on Feb 1, 2010.
According to witnesses, Syed Haikar Iskandar was shot dead after trying to break into Zamil’s house through the back door.
The court heard that Zamil, who was at a shooting training centre at the time, returned home after being informed by his wife who said she saw a man trying to break into their house.
He was charged under Section 304 (a) of the Penal Code with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
On Feb 13 this year, Zamil was ordered to enter his defence after the prosecution established a prima facie case.
The trial saw a total of 21 prosecution witnesses testifying for the prosecution while three witnesses gave evidence for the defence.
The prosecution argued that Zamil had exceeded the boundaries of self-defence and that he fired a second shot when Syed Haikar Iskandar was not facing him squarely.
The defence counter argued that Zamil had acted out of necessity and had been confronted with an imminent threat to his life when Syed Haikar Iskandar, unprovoked, had menacingly attacked him with a Rambo-style survival knife.
Zamil was represented by Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Rahmat Hazlan and Wan Arfan Wan Othman, while the prosecution was led by deputy public prosecutors Engku Ahmad Rashdi Engku Abdillah, Intan Nor Hilwani Mat Rifin and Hanis Nabihah Hizamul-Din.
