PUTRAJAYA – A married couple escaped the gallows when the court commuted their sentence to a maximum jail term of 40 years for the murder of their daughter.
The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction against Anuar Yusof and Murni Ahmad, ruling that their appeals did not have merit.
The three-member bench comprised justices Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and S.M. Komathy Suppiah.
It was the court’s unanimous decision that there was overwhelming evidence that 22-year-old Siti Hajar died due to the couple neglecting, abusing and starving her for a period of between three to six months.
The couple are her father and stepmother.
The court set aside the death sentence imposed on the couple by the high court and substituted it with 40-years imprisonment. The couple were ordered to begin their jail sentence from the date of their arrest on April 26, 2016.
“This is a very sad case and the worst case under Section 302 of the Penal Code that we have read,” said justice Hadhariah.
Anuar, 57, and Murni, 42, were found guilty by the high court in 2021 for murdering Siti Hajar in a house at Jalan Air Putih, Taman Semarak, Binjai in Chukai at 10.45pm on April 26, 2016. They were sentenced to death, prompting them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The high court had earlier acquitted and discharged the couple’s children, Siti Sarah Anuar and her brother, who was 14 years old at the time.
They were also charged with the murder of Siti Hajar.
At the time of her death, Siti Hajar only weighed 18kg and was staying with her biological father and stepmother, an older sister and a younger brother in a rented house since 2008.
A forensic expert who examined the body confirmed that Siti Hajar died due to bacterial infection in the lungs and anus caused by abuse, starvation and neglect.
She also had 36 human bite marks on her back, both hands and feet and in her genital area.
The couple were represented by Ghazali Ismail while deputy public prosecutor Norzilati Izhani Zainal prosecuted. – The Vibes, August 23, 2023
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