THE Klang High Court sentenced a former mechanic to 32 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane after he was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend in August 2022.
Judge Norliza Othman decided after the prosecution successfully proved a case beyond a reasonable doubt against the accused, Amirul Amin Amirruddin, 23, at the end of the defence case.
The sentence was ordered to start from the date of arrest on August 24, 2022.
According to the charge, Amirul Amin is accused of murdering Nurul Shahira Abdullah, 24, at house lot number 4475, Lorong Haji Mahat, Kampung Sri Pandan, Klang, on August 24 at 7.18 pm.
He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code and, if convicted, could be sentenced to death.
In her judgment, Norliza announced that the autopsy results found that the victim died from suffocation after being covered with a pillow and confirmed by a pathologist who acted as a prosecution witness.
"During cross-examination, the accused admitted that when he covered the deceased's face, he saw that the deceased was breathing slowly and suffocating.
"The accused also knew that the action could cause the deceased to be unable to breathe because the entire face was covered with a pillow, since humans only breathe through the nose. The accused stopped the act after finding that the victim was no longer fighting and breathing," she said.
She stressed that the accused's actions began from a fight between them when he refused to sign an agreement letter so that the accused would not leave the victim.
"The accused also agreed to the prosecution's suggestion during cross-examination that there was another way to calm the deceased apart from covering her with a pillow.
"The court found that there was no element of excessive provocation that caused the accused to act using the pillow. The accused had time to think of a more rational action and calm the deceased when he refused to sign the letter," she said.
Prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Farah Aqilah Ahmad Fuad while the accused was represented by Mohd Norazihan Adnan and Evie Melynda Jee.
For the record, the accused was previously jailed for seven years under Section 304b of the Penal Code on October 17 last year.
However, the prosecution was successful in appealing against the sentence, with the Court of Appeal ordering the accused to enter his defence at the Klang High Court under Section 302 of the Penal Code. – June 30, 2026
