PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today commuted the death sentence of an unemployed man to 30 years imprisonment for the murder of a dental technologist seven years ago.
A three-judge bench comprising Justices Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin also sentenced Abdul Malik Rosli to 12 strokes of the cane.
Court-appointed counsel S. Karthigesan, who represented Abdul Malik, confirmed the decision to Bernama on Thursday (March 6), adding that the sentence was ordered to commence from the date of his arrest on Jan 31, 2018.
He said the court had ruled that Abdul Malik's case did not meet the "rarest of the rare" threshold to justify the death penalty.
Karthigesan said that during mitigation, he informed the court that his client had instructed him to request the death sentence be upheld if his appeal against the conviction was denied.
Abdul Malik, 27, was convicted by the Seremban High Court in Oct 2022 for the murder of 28-year-old Mahussin Abdul Rahim on the fourth floor of the Lukut health clinic quarters in Port Dickson at 1.40am on Jan 19, 2018.
Mahussin's body was found by his friend 72 hours after he was reported missing when he failed to turn up for work on Jan 22, 2018.
Abdul Malik still has the opportunity to file a final appeal with the Federal Court.
Deputy public prosecutor Siti Rafidah Zainuddin appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama
