KUALA LUMPUR: A Nigerian was sent to the gallows by the High Court here for murdering his step-grandson by throwing the child off the third floor of an apartment.
Justice K. Muniandy, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, passed down the sentence on Ibekwe Emeka Augustine, 48, after finding the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the case.
In his decision, Justice Muniandy said Augustine, who also faced four other serious charges, had committed all of the offences within a single day, where he had sexually assaulted his stepdaughter, attempted to murder his own son and caused grievous hurt to his wife before attempting to take his own life.
"All these inhuman and despicable acts of the accused could have been stopped as the wife of the accused had attempted to do so, but the accused continued with his acts after grievously injuring his wife.
"They were all traumatised by the entire incident and had to run away from the home before anything more dreadful was inflicted on them, before finding the grandchild dead on the ground as he was thrown away mercilessly by the accused, who then attempted suicide," Justice Muniandy said.
On Dec 18, 2020, Augustine was charged with the murder of his four-year-old step-grandson at an apartment in Setapak between 7.45am and 8.15am on Nov 29, 2020.
The charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries a death sentence or imprisonment between 30 and 40 years with whipping of no less than 12 strokes.
Augustine was also sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for the other four charges: attempted murder of his son, causing grievous hurt to his wife, attempted suicide and sexual assault of his stepdaughter.
All of the offences were committed at the same place and time.
Justice Muniandy ordered that the jail time run concurrently from the date of arrest on Nov 29, 2020.
Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Zaileen Nadia Zubir asked the court to mete out the maximum sentence against the accused.
She said all of the offences were “self-induced” by the accused's prolonged drug habit.
“This case involved four victims who are his wife, step-grandchild, stepdaughter and his own son. He admitted himself he has schizophrenia caused by his drug use, where he would hear voices,” DPP Zaileen said.
The prosecution also told the court that the step-grandson was dangled by his legs over the window before he met his end when he was dropped.
“This act was seen by the victim's mother (the stepdaughter) and she tried to save the child but was unsuccessful. The accused also jumped on his wife, breaking her hip,” she added.
Lawyer Zulkifli Awang, who represented Augustine, however, sought imprisonment instead of the death sentence on the grounds that his client was a first-time offender.
“Since the accused was detained, he has shown remorse and has not caused any problems in prison. We seek the court's mercy in sentencing,” Zulkifli said.
A total of 22 prosecution witnesses and two defence witnesses, including the accused, took the stand in the trial.
