Nizam (middle) and his lawyer (right) outside court on June 6. He had earlier faced the possibility of the death penalty on a murder charge. – BERNAMApic
TAIPING: An oil palm plantation worker escaped the death penalty after the High Court here sentenced him to seven years in prison on an amended charge in the death of a detainee at Taiping Prison six years ago.
Justice Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin imposed the sentence on Mohd Nizam Shah Shahruddin, 40, after the accused pleaded guilty to the amended charge from Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder to Section 304b for manslaughter.
The prison sentence is to start from the date of his arrest, Aug 29, 2019.
He was detained on suspicion of causing the death of Chua Teng Wooi, 41, at the Taiping Prison Remand Cell here at 9.30pm that day.
Justice Noor Ruwena said the sentence was handed down after examining the facts of the case and the arguments of the prosecution and defence, as well as the statements of the accused and witnesses.
She said the court found that Nizam had succeeded in raising a reasonable doubt that he did not intend to kill the victim but was angry with his actions and only wanted to teach him a lesson.
According to Justice Noor Ruwena, from the testimony of the accused and several other witnesses, the victim was beaten up by a mob while in the remand cell after he defecated everywhere because of diarrhoea.
She said the doubts raised included whether or not the actions of the accused and other detainees caused injuries to the victim's lungs, which was the cause of death.
This was because there was witness testimony that the injuries may have occurred when the victim fell in the prison toilet, owing to the dark conditions of the detention cell.
"The accused's statement was not challenged, that he woke up other inmates to help the deceased who fell in the toilet and also lifted the deceased... the affidavit that there were (other) people who also beat the deceased was not challenged," she said.
The prosecution was conducted by DPP Sally Chay Mei Ling, while counsel Rajit Singh Tara Singh represented the accused. – Bernama
