Cook with four children sent to the gallows for wife's murder

KUALA LUMPUR: A cook who beat his wife to death was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to death by the High Court here today.
Judge Datuk Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah handed down the sentence on Jamaluddin Ali, 43, after finding the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubts against the prosecution's case.
Jamaluddin, who has four children, was found guilty of murdering Nurhidayah A Ghani, 29, at Kampung Petaling Bahagia, Batu 5 1/2 Jalan Puchong here, at 9pm between May 15 and 17, 2013.
The charge, under Section 302 of the Penal Code, provides the death sentence upon conviction.
Before handing down the sentence, the court heard the victim impact statement from Nurhidayah's older sister, Umi Kalsom, 41, who said that her mother could have accepted Nurhidayah's death if she had died due to an illness, but not murdered.
"My mother who cleansed the victim's body for the funeral saw bruises (on the body). My mother was traumatised, often cried and is now seeing a psychiatrist.
"The doctor said the injury on the victim's body was so severe that it damaged her internal organs," she said.
She said the victim's four children now had to grow up without a mother and the incident had negatively affected their emotional development as they witnessed the incident.
Tee, in her judgment, said that although the accused testified that he only slapped and kicked the victim twice, witnesses, including his friends, saw him hitting the victim non-stop.
"The testimony by the accused was merely a denial and he imagined his wife was beaten by another person on the day of the incident.
"The testimony by the victim's 10-year-old daughter can be believed because she herself saw her mother being beaten by her father," she added.
She said the hospital report also stated that the there were bruises on the victim's body.
In mitigation, lawyer Mahadi Muhammad, representing Jamaluddin, said his client had no intention of killing the wife because he loved her and the incident happened because he could not control his anger after seeing the wife in a sexy dress.
Deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim prosecuted. — Bernama