Six former students in Malaysia sentenced to death for murder of navy cadet

PUTRAJAYA: Six former students of Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) were sentenced to death by a Malaysian court on Tuesday (Jul 23) for the murder of navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain seven years ago.

The Court of Appeal, led by Judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail, overturned the initial 18-year prison sentences imposed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court, reinstating the mandatory death penalty under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

Judge Hadhariah stated in her ruling that the three-judge panel found that the five students had taken turns pressing a steam iron on the body of the deceased, including his private parts, while the last student, Abdoul Hakeem, was complicit in inciting and instructing the other five to do so.

The six students are Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri, and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali.

"Therefore, we unanimously decide that a single sentence is appropriate for all six defendants, and they shall be taken to a place of execution where they will be sentenced to death by hanging.

"Thus, the court overturns the 18-year prison sentence imposed by the High Court on the six defendants and replaces it with the death sentence," said the judge.

Five of the students had initially faced murder charges under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which provides for a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

Abdoul Hakeem was charged as an accomplice under Section 109 of the same Code, which also carries a mandatory death penalty.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court then found all six of them guilty of causing injury to Zulfarhan with intent but without the intention to kill, under Section 304 (a) of the Penal Code, which provides for imprisonment of up to 30 years and a fine if the act was committed with the intent to cause death.

The six were accused of committing the acts in a room at the Jebat Hostel block, UPNM, between 4.45am and 5.45am on May 22, 2017.

Zulfarhan died at the Serdang Hospital on Jun 1, 2017.

According to local media, apart from having hot steam iron repeatedly pressed onto his body, Zulfarhan was also subjected to beatings, kicks and punches. However, up to his death on Jun 1 that year – 10 days after he was tortured on May 21 and 22 – Zulfarhan did not admit to taking Akmal Zuhairi’s laptop.

The three-judge panel on Wednesday also overturned the three-year prison sentences imposed on 12 other former students of the same university for injuring Zulfarhan to four years of imprisonment.

They were found guilty of deliberately causing injury to Zulfarhan to obtain a confession that he had stolen a laptop and were charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code, which provides for a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a fine, upon conviction.

All of them, now aged 28, were accused of committing the acts in two rooms at the Jebat Hostel block, UPNM, between May 21, 2017, and May 22, 2017.