PUTRAJAYA: Six former National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) cadets who were convicted of causing fellow cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain’s death were sentenced to 18 years in prison after the Federal Court here set aside the death penalty.
A three-judge panel, chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Hasnah Mohamed Hashim, allowed the appeal filed by the six and set aside the death sentence imposed on them by the Court of Appeal.
The accused are Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri, and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali.
In the decision, read out by Justice Hasnah, the panel found that the prosecution had not proven the elements of murder beyond a reasonable doubt against the appellants from the injuries sustained by Zulfarhan that had caused his death.
The court said that the provision under Section 300(c) of the Penal Code was untenable in the prosecution’s bid to prove the murder offence.
“We therefore set aside the murder conviction. However, there was sufficient evidence to find them guilty of committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder,” Justice Hasnah said here yesterday.
The panel then reinstated the decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2021 that meted out the prison time, which was ordered to run from the date of arrest on June 1, 2017.
Other judges on the panel were Federal Court judges Justices Nordin Hassan and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
On July 23 last year, the Court of Appeal sentenced the six to death for the murder of Zulfarhan after allowing the prosecution’s cross-appeal to reinstate their initial murder charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
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The three-judge panel of the appellate court allowed an appeal on the sentence by the prosecution and reinstated Section 302 against the six as they found the trial judge at the High Court had erred when he reduced the charge.
The first five accused persons were initially charged with murder under Section 302, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction, while Abdoul Hakeem was charged with abetting the murder under Section 109, which carries the same penalty.
However, the High Court later amended the charge to Section 304(a) and convicted them on Nov 2, 2021, for causing Zulfarhan’s death without intent to kill him.
Section 304(a) of the Penal Code provides a prison sentence of up to 30 years and a fine, upon conviction, if the act is committed with intent to cause death.
The former students, now 29, were charged with committing the offence in a room at the Asrama Jebat block, UPNM, between 4.45am and 5.45am on May 22, 2017.
Zulfarhan died at Serdang Hospital on June 1, 2017.
Defence lawyer Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik told the press that the defence was grateful for the decision to reinstate the initial sentence by the High Court.
“This means they are now being sentenced to 18 years from the date of arrest and in about four years (after considering the one-third remission of jail sentence), I think they’ll be released,” he said.
Meanwhile, defence lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad said that the Federal Court agreed with the arguments raised by the defence, particularly on the murder element under Section 300(c).
“The court found it unsafe to convict the students under a murder offence but rather the testimonies were enough to maintain the conviction for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304(a).
“There is no winning party in this case. Zulfarhan has passed away and these students have lost their future and have to pay penance. We hope with this decision, it’s the closure to a very unfortunate episode,” Amer said.
