Trio’s death sentence for murder of senior citizen commuted to 35 years

PUTRAJAYA: Three men who were convicted for murdering a 61-year-old senior citizen 13 years ago, had their death sentences commuted to 35 years jail on Tuesday (Nov 28).

The Federal Court’s five-member panel of judges led by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah allowed the review applications filed by S. Ranjitkumar, S. Gobi and E. Sangkar under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act.

The other judges who presided were Federal Court judges Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais.

Justice Mohamed Zabidin also ordered the three be given 12 strokes of the rotan each.

The court also ordered the trio to serve their sentences from the date of their arrest respectively – Ranjitkumar was arrested on Jan 17, 2011, while Gobi and Sangkar were arrested on Aug 15, 2010.

Ranjitkumar, 37, Gobi, 42, and Sangkar, 41, were sentenced to death by the High Court on April 23, 2014 for the murder of P. Kannayah at the staircase of his apartment in Bukit Ampang Permai, Ampang Jaya, Selangor at 10.30pm on July 31, 2010.

They lost their appeals in the Court of Appeal and Federal Court which were dismissed on March 7, 2016 and March 23, 2017 respectively.

In Tuesday’s proceedings, lawyers M.Manoharan, Rajit Singh and Azamuddin Abdul Aziz who represented Ranjitkumar, Gobi and Sangkar respectively, had asked the court to exercise its discretion to substitute the death sentences to imprisonment term.

Deputy public prosecutor K.Mangai, however, asked the court to maintain the death penalty on the three due to the injuries inflicted on the deceased.

She said the deceased came out of his house to shield his son from an attack by the three men but the three who were armed with parang showed no mercy and inflicted 22 incisive injuries on him. – BK