PUTRAJAYA – An odd-job worker today escaped the gallows for killing a car wash owner whose body was found buried in a cemetery almost five years ago.
This was after S. Soosai, 34, succeeded in his appeal at the Court of Appeal to set aside his murder conviction and death sentence.
In allowing Soosai’s appeal, the three-member panel led by justice Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail ruled that there was no direct or circumstantial evidence that the accused had caused B. Sugumaran’s death.
In a unanimous decision, she said the court agreed with the submission by the accused’s counsel, Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi, that the actual information given by Soosai to police was not known.
She said Soosai’s act of pointing to where the body was buried did not mean that he had caused the death.
Hadhariah, who sat with justices Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Datuk Hashim Hamzah, held that Soosai’s conviction for murder was not safe.
On February 17, 2020, the Seremban High Court sentenced Soosai to death after finding him guilty of killing Sugumaran, 34, at a Christian cemetery in Kg Saga Rantau in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan between 6pm on September 13, 2017 and 6.30pm on November 11, 2017.
According to the prosecution, the deceased was seen following two men in a car on September 13, 2017 and his elder brother subsequently made a police report the next day after failing to contact or find him.
On November 6, 2017, police arrested Soosai and during interrogation, he purportedly gave information that the deceased body was at a seaside area. After leading police to the place, Soosai purportedly said that he actually buried the body at a Christian cemetery.
The police team then went to the cemetery and found the body after Soosai showed them where it was buried. A DNA analysis was made, with the deceased identified as Sugumaran.
Soosai, who gave an unsworn statement, denied that he told police that the body was buried in the cemetery or that he had killed Sugumaran.
He said did not have any motive for the killing as he did not know the victim nor had he met him. Soosai said he gave information that the body was buried at Pantai Chuah as he could not take the threats and beatings by police.
Deputy public prosecutor Wong Poi Yoke, appearing for the prosecution, submitted that the evidence against Soosai was circumstantial as he had the knowledge of where the body was placed. – Bernama, October 20, 2022
