Three friends escape gallows after court acquits them of murder

The Federal Court yesterday acquitted and discharged three friends, one of them a woman, on a charge of murdering a man whose body has yet to be found.

A three-judge panel of the Federal Court chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ordered the release of Mohd Zulhiami Md Darus, 37, Siti Nor Asiah Abdul Wahab, 32, and Muhammad Rahmat Nazarudin, 29, after allowing their appeal against a decision by the Shah Alam High Court on Oct 24, 2019, in sentencing them to death for the murder.

In the summary judgment, Tengku Maimum (above) said several issues were raised by the appellants and the court found that the main issue was whether the appellants were denied the right to a fair trial.

“After hearing the submissions by lawyers for the appellants and the prosecutor, as well as examining the grounds of the judgment and the appeal record, we are satisfied that the entire trial was conducted in a manner that did not comply with the law.

“This prejudiced the appellants and resulted in their conviction being unsafe. Therefore, we allow the appeal by the three appellants. The order of the High Court judge which was confirmed by the Court of Appeal is set aside and the three apellants are acquitted and discharged (of the murder charge),” said Tengku Maimun, who was on the Federal Court bench with Chief Judge of Malaya Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah and judge Abu Bakar Jais.

After the court gave the decision, Zulhiami and Rahmat were seen hugging each other, while Siti was in tears.

The three friends were appealing against the decision of the Court of Appeal on April 14, 2022, which upheld the conviction and death sentence meted out by the Shah Alam High Court on Oct 24, 2019.

Amended charge

Zulhiami and Siti were initially charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code with conspiring with Rahmat to kill Mohammad Fairul Haqiemi, 21, at an apartment at Jalan Dato Yusof Shahbudin 3 Taman Sentosa Klang between 12.30am and 1am on Aug 29, 2016.

Rahmat was charged with killing Fairul at 4am at the same location and he was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

However, the charge was amended at the end of the prosecution’s case, with the time of the incident for the charge of murder and conspiracy to murder being 4am and the date changed to Aug 30, 2016.

Earlier, lawyer Kitson Foong, representing Zulhiami, submitted that the defence only found out about the amendment of the date and time of the incident in the charge after examining the appeal records.

“The amendment was made by the trial judge of the High Court after allowing the prosecution’s application without any notification. The lawyers were not informed of the amendment and the three accused also did not know about it.

“If an amendment is made, the charge should be read again to the client and the plea should be recorded and they can call witnesses for the defence,” he said.

Lawyer Geethan Ram Vincent, representing Siti, said the trial judge (in High Court) had erred in terms of facts and law when he failed to consider that the prosecution’s main witness, Zairul Noraidi Shahidin, was an accomplice and the matter was acknowledged by Rahmat’s lawyer, Fahri Azzat.

Deputy public prosecutors Parvin Hameedah Mohd Khaja and Aida Khairuleen Azli appeared for the prosecution.

- Bernama

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