PUTRAJAYA, June 24 – The Court of Appeal on Monday commuted the death sentence imposed on a 41-year-old man to 35 years in jail for murdering an Indonesian house cleaner in 2017 after she allegedly badmouthed him.
The three judge panel of led by Judge Datuk Supang Lian, along with Judges Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk S.M. Komathy Suppiah dismissed Khairul Azizi Abdul Jalil’s appeal to overturn his conviction for the offence.
The court did allow Khairul Azizi’s appeal to commute the death sentence imposed on him by the High Court to 35 years’ in jail to be served from the date of his arrest on Oct 9, 2017, but also imposed 12 strokes of the cane on him.
Justice Komathy said in the court’s decision that Khairul Azizi was not of unsound mind when the offence was commissioned and knew the nature of his conduct was against the law, and that it was in fact a premeditated murder.
Khairul Aziz’s counsel, Mohamad Asri Othman had asked the court to commute the death sentence to 30 years’ in jail but deputy public prosecutor Aznee Salmie Ahmad, who was assisted by DPP Aida Khairuleen Azli, urged the court to uphold the death sentence.
Khairul Azizi had been found guilty by the Ipoh High Court last year for killing Aidah Tursinawati, who was in her 40s, at a house in Kampung Tersusun Tasek, Ipoh, Kinta district, Perak at about 3.25 pm on Oct 9, 2017.
High Court judge Su Tiang Joo had ruled that Khairul Azizi had failed to prove that he was of unsound mind and incapable of knowing the nature of his act at the time of killing Aidah.
