A three-member bench chaired by Justice Azman Abdullah allowed Fakrul Aiman Sajali’s appeal on sentence and substituted his earlier death penalty with a custodial term.
“We have considered the appellant’s age at the time of the offence and the law which gives the court the option to impose the death penalty or a jail term,” he said.
Justices Ahmad Kamal Shahid and Radzi Harun were also on the bench.
Defence counsel Nor Tamrin submitted that a jail term was appropriate as his client was a young offender and that Section 293 of the Criminal Procedure Code could be applied.
Section 293 provides for alternative sentencing for those aged 18 to 21, including the option for courts to release them on probation or impose community service.
Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Malik Ayob, however, submitted that the provision was meant for minor offences.
“The offence committed is serious, and his young age should not be considered to alter the sentence,” he said.
On Oct 15 last year, the High Court in Klang sentenced Fakrul to death after he pleaded guilty to murdering Nur Anisah Abdul Wahab, 21, at Jalan Sungai Limau in Sabak Bernam between 8.30pm on May 22 and 8am on May 23, 2023.
He was about 20 years old at the time of the offence.
Judge Norazlin Othman handed down the sentence on Fakrul after he maintained his guilty plea.
In her judgment, Norazlin said the court was satisfied with the unconditional guilty plea and acceptance that the facts of the case and the exhibits presented by the prosecution were true.
She said the gravity of the offence, described as cruel and premeditated, warranted a harsher sentence compared to that of a spontaneous act of violence.
The judge said the defendant took two lives: the victim’s and that of her 18-week-old unborn child.
Facts of the case revealed that Fakrul struck the victim on the head with a stick before dragging her to a drain, stabbing her in the abdomen with a knife, and slashing her neck.
A post-mortem report by the forensic department of Sungai Buloh Hospital later confirmed extensive burn injuries over most of her body.