PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here today upheld the death sentence of a businessman for the murder of a scrap metal collector at Kampung Labohan, Kerteh, Terengganu, in December 2015.
A three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Yaakob Md Sam, also affirmed the decision of the Kuala Terengganu High Court which sentenced Mohamad Zulkifli Ismail to 14 years in jail for causing grievous hurt to an associate of the deceased.
In a unanimous decision, Justice Yaakob dismissed Mohamad Zulkifli’s appeal.
“There is no appealable error on the part of the High Court in handing down the decision,“ he said adding that Mohamad Zulkifli’s conviction was safe.
The other two judges were Justices Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and P. Ravinthran.
Mohamad Zulkifli, 54, was convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court in May last year for the murder of Zulkefle Abdullah, 37, at a house in Kampung Labohan at 10.30am on Dec 7, 2015.
The High Court also sentenced him to 14 years jail for causing grievous hurt to Faizul Awang, 35, at the same time, day and place.
According to the facts of the case, Mohamad Zulkifli, who came from behind without warning, stabbed Faizul before heading towards Zulkefle and stabbed him on his right chest with a parang.
The deceased and Faizul had stopped at the place of incident after they saw scrap metals in the area.
In his defence, Mohamad Zulkifli claimed that the two men had trespassed into his house compound to steal iron rod.
High Court judge Datuk Zainal Azman Ab Aziz, in his ruling said the defence failed to prove that the accused was acting in self-defence.
He was represented by lawyer Ariff Azami Hussein, while deputy public prosecutor Nurshafini Mustafha appeared for the prosecution.
Mohamad has one more tier of appeal, that is to the Federal Court. - Bernama
