THE Court of Appeal has sent six former National Defence University Malaysia (UPNM) students to the gallows for the murder of navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain seven years ago.
A three-person bench chaired by Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail unanimously found the six ex-students guilty of murder, setting aside their initial conviction for the offence of causing death with no intent to kill.
In reading out the judgment for over three hours, Hadhariah said that the High Court erred in finding the six only guilty of causing death.
Describing the crime committed against Zulfarhan, who was branded with a hot iron all over his body including his private parts, as “shocking and rare”, Hadhariah said the initial 18-year jail sentence was insufficient due to the viciousness of the crime.
She said the grievous injury on the deceased’s body indicated intent to murder on the part of the six former students.
Hadhariah said the six took turns to repeatedly apply hot steam iron on the deceased’s back, front and private parts.
She said they had malicious and evil intent and were inhumane as well as lacked compassion for a fellow student.
“We agree with the prosecution that the way the murder was conducted shocked not only the judicial conscience but even the collective conscience of the society. This case is the rarest of the rare involving a heinous crime. Such cruelty must be stopped,” she said.
“Which parents would not be disappointed and sad when their son’s body is returned to them (in the grievously injured state) for burial?
“Only Allah knows how devastated and heavy their feelings are when they see what has happened to their son as caused by the accused. The court will not tolerate this.”
Hadhariah, who spent more than three hours reading the 93-page judgment, then called upon all six accused to stand up before passing the sentence.
“Therefore we unanimously decide that there will be only one sentence for all six accused persons, where all of them are to be hanged to death. Their initial 18-year jail sentence is set aside,” she said.
Other judges on the bench were Justices Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Azmi Ariffin.
On June 1, 2017 at Serdang Hospital, Zulfarhan died of injuries from 90 instances of steam ironing, which left scalding burns on 80% of his body.
The 21-year-old was allegedly subjected to multiple assaults over refusal to confess to stealing a laptop of one of the six ex-students, at the public university’s dorm in Kuala Lumpur.
The six were Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri, and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali. – July 23, 2024
Main pic credit: FMT
