Justice Noor Ruwena Nurdin sentenced Nizam Shah Shahruddin, 40, to seven years in prison without a fine after he pleaded guilty to the charge amended from Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder to Section 304(b) of the same code, for manslaughter.

Noor Ruwena set the sentence to start from the date of Nizam’s arrest on Aug 29, 2019, on suspicion of causing the death of Chua Teng Wooi, 41, at the Taiping prison’s remand cell at 9.30pm the same day.

She said the court found that Nizam had succeeded in raising reasonable doubt in his defence that he did not intend to kill Chua, but was angry with this actions and only wanted to teach him a lesson.

According to the testimony of the accused and several other witnesses, Chua was beaten up by a mob while in the remand cell because he often defecated everywhere due to diarrhoea.

Noor Ruwena said the doubts raised included whether the actions of the accused and other detainees caused injuries to Chua’s lungs, which was the cause of death.

This was because there was witness testimony that the injuries may have occurred when Chua fell in the prison toilet because the detention cell was dark.

“The accused’s statement that he woke up other inmates to help the deceased, who fell in the toilet, and also lifted the deceased was not challenged.

“The affidavit that there were (other) people who also beat the deceased was not challenged,” she said.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Sally Chay, while counsel Rajit Singh Tara Singh represented the accused.