A High Court decision to enhance the jail term of two farm workers to 20 years each for disposing of the bodies of murdered cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three others, was upheld by the appellate court in Putrajaya today.

This follows the decision of a three-man panel comprising Justices Ramly Ali, Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad and Mohamed Apandi Ali in refusing to grant leave to K Sarawanan and U Suresh to appeal against the enhancement of their jail term meted out by a Shah Alam High Court.

In dismissing the duo’s leave application, Ramly, who led the panel, said the court was of the view that they failed to satisfy Section 50 (2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, which stated that an appeal must be confined to only a question of law.

In the proceeding, their lawyer, Harpal Singh Grewal, told the court that Sarawanan and Suresh wanted to retract their plea of guilt. Alternatively, they wanted the court to reduce their jail sentence.

Sarawanan, 20, and Suresh, 27, were sentenced to a total of 28 years’ jail each when they pleaded guilty in the magistrate’s court in Telok Datok, Banting to four counts of disposing of evidence in the murders of Sosilawati, 47, her driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44, CIMB bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, and lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32.

Sarawanan admitted to burning the bodies of the victims at Lot No 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting on Aug 30, last year while Suresh threw the ashes into Sungai Panchau in Jalan Morib, the next day.

Magistrate Hurmain Hussain ordered the sentences to run concurrently, which meant Sarawanan and Suresh would each serve seven years.

However, High Court judge Mohtaruddin Baki (now Court of Appeal judge) in exercising his power under the Criminal Procedure Code to review the lower court’s decision, reduced the jail term to five years for each charge but ordered that the sentences to run consecutively.

‘Barred from appealing against plea of guilt’

Deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusof said leave to appeal should not be granted to the duo because they were barred from appealing against their plea of guilt, by virtue of Section 305 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

He said they could only appeal with regard to their jail sentence.

Ishak said the questions prepared by the duo’s lawyers did not amount to questions of law because it did not involve a question of interpretation of any statutory provision.

He said the applicants’ (Sarawanan’s and Suresh’s) plea of guilt was not tainted with non-compliance with rules and procedure and that the High Court was also satisfied the plea of guilt was done, according to the law.

Harpal Singh, earlier, sought the court to grant leave, saying that there was a miscarriage of justice which must be corrected by the appellate court.

Four men, disbarred lawyer N Pathmanabhan, 41, and his farm hands, T Thilaiyalagan, 19, R Matan, 20, and R Kathayarayan, 30, have been charged with murdering the four. The trial has been fixed to resume tomorrow.

Outside the court, lawyer AS Dhaliwal, representing Sarawanan and Suresh, said they would file an appplication for a review.

- Bernama