Sofiyuddin Abu Bakar, 34, was previously sentenced to 16 years and six months’ jail by the High Court for a lesser charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

However, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s decision and convicted him of murder, following an appeal by the prosecution.

A three-man bench comprising Justices Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Azizul Azmi Adnan, and Ahmad Kamal Shahid ruled that the High Court judge had erred in amending the charge from murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Bernama reported that Zaidi, who delivered the court’s unanimous decision yesterday, also held that the High Court judge had erred in her ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove the element of intent to kill the child.

In addition to the prison sentence, to be served from the date of arrest on May 26, 2019, the court also ordered for Sofiyuddin to be given 12 strokes of the cane.

Sofiyuddin was initially charged with the murder of Aqil Hairi Azrul at an unnumbered house in Jalan Yan, Guar Chempedak, Kedah, between 7.30pm and 8pm on May 25, 2019.

On July 4, 2023, the High Court in Sungai Petani convicted him of an amended charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to 16 years and six months in jail.

Deputy public prosecutor Eyu Ghim Siang, appearing for the prosecution, then sought a murder conviction.

Sofiyuddin, represented by lawyers Ai Cha Ran and Surachetth Jotsuwan, claimed that the child fell from a table onto the floor and a dumbbell.

However, a post-mortem revealed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the abdomen, and that the injuries sustained by the child were inconsistent with a fall.

According to the facts of the case, the child’s mother left her son in Sofiyuddin’s care while she was at work that day.