PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has upheld the death sentence of a former contract labourer 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 Maidin’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.
The top judge accepted the prosecution’s objection to Muidin’s review application.
“Considering the circumstances of the case, we dismiss the application and uphold the death sentence,” said Justice Tengku Maimun, who sat with Court of Appeal president Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judge Justice 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 had kidnapped the four-year, nine-month-old girl who was returning home after buying instant noodles and eggs from a grocery shop, reported Bernama.
Muidin took the girl to an oil palm plantation, where he murdered her and set fire to her body, he said, adding that Muidin’s DNA 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.
Lawyer Nik Mohamed Ikhwan Nik Mahamud asked the court to temper justice with mercy, saying that his client was remorseful and that he 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 at an oil palm plantation in Jalan Suria 47, Bandar Seri Alam, Masai, Johor, between 11.30am on March 1, 2012 and midnight the next 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 them to be Dirang’s. — Bernama
