SHAH ALAM – The high court here today ordered a Nigerian man to be sent to the gallows after finding him guilty of murdering the Serdang Hospital chief nurse two years ago.
Judge Datuk Ab Karim Ab Rahman handed down the sentence to Alowonle Oluwajuwon Gilbert, 38, after finding that the prosecution succeeded in establishing its case beyond reasonable doubt.
However, he allowed a stay of the sentence pending an appeal at the Court of Appeal.
When reading out the decision, he said the testimony by the accused that he left the victim’s house on May 8, 2019 contradicted closed-circuit television camera footage at the Third Avenue Condominium in Cyberjaya showing him leaving the premises only the following day.
“Hence, the testimony by the accused that he was no longer with the victim on May 8, 2019 as he had left the residence by then is merely a denial.”
The defence also did not dispute the traces of blood and DNA belonging to the victim found on the shirt worn by the accused on the day of the incident, he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Tengku Intan Suraya Tengku Ismail prosecuted, while the accused was represented by lawyer Shafinah Taib.
Gilbert was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code with killing Siti Kharina Mohd Kamarudin in a Third Avenue Condominium unit between 12.41am on May 9, 2019 and 2.30pm on May 15 the same year.
Siti Kharina was reported to have gone missing on May 8. She was last seen at the Serdang Hospital parking lot at 4pm that day.
She was found dead with slash wounds on the chest, neck and head in the said condo unit on May 15.
The victim is believed to have been dead for four to five days before her body was discovered. – Bernama, August 4, 2021
