PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here upheld the death sentence of a former contract labourer, Muidin Maidin, who killed four-year-old Nurul Nadirah Abdullah, also known as Dirang, 12 years ago.
A three-judge panel led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, in upholding the death sentence, dismissed Muidin’s review application to commute the death penalty to life imprisonment under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 on Tuesday (July 9).
The top judge in the judiciary (Justice Tengku Maimun) accepted the prosecution’s objection to Muidin’s review application.
"Considering the circumstances of the case, we dismissed the application and upheld the death sentence (on Muidin),” said Justice Tengku Maimun, who sat with Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judge Datuk Nordin Hassan.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Amril Johari objected to Muidin’s review application and asked the court to maintain the death penalty as he (Muidin) kidnapped the four years and nine months old girl who was returning home from a nearby grocery shop where she had gone to buy instant noodles and eggs.
Muidin had taken the girl to an oil palm plantation, where he murdered her and set fire to her body, he said, adding that Muidin’s DNA profile was found on the swabs taken from the girl’s private parts and anus.
"This tragic case became a topic of discussion for almost a year by every Malaysian citizen, and the case affected the hearts and emotions of Malaysians at that time,” he said.
Muidin’s lawyer, Nik Mohamed Ikhwan Nik Mahamud, asked the court to temper justice with mercy, saying that his client was remorseful and was now a changed man.
The 36-year-old man was found guilty and sentenced to death by the High Court in 2013 for killing Dirang in an oil palm plantation at Jalan Suria 47, Bandar Seri Alam, Masai, Johor, between 11.30 am on March 1, 2012, and midnight the following day.
His appeals against both his conviction and the death penalty were dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Dirang was reported missing on March 1, 2012, after she went to a grocery shop near her house at the Seri Delima Flats, Bandar Seri Alam.
The Chemist Department conducted a DNA test on the charred remains found in a hole in an abandoned housing site in Nusa Damai, Masai, on March 8, of the same year and confirmed it to be Dirang’s. – Bernama
