PUTRAJAYA, Jan 9 — An unemployed man who beheaded his father and chopped off the victim’s legs and hands escaped the gallows after the Federal Court substituted the death sentence today to 35 years imprisonment.
A panel of three judges comprising Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, and Federal Court judges Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais, held there was merit in You Poh Khoon’s appeal against the death sentence.
In delivering the court’s decision, Justice Zabidin set aside the death sentence imposed by the High Court and replaced it with a jail sentence.
“The appellant should be given a chance to serve the jail term,” he said.
Justice Zabidin ordered You to serve the jail sentence from the date of arrest, October 9, 2018, and also spared the man from whipping as he is over 50 years old.
Earlier, You’s lawyer Amir Faliq Mohamad Jamil informed the court the Attorney-General’s Chambers had allowed his client’s representation for him (You) to withdraw his appeal against the conviction and for the death sentence to be substituted with a jail sentence.
You, 58, was sentenced to death by the High Court on May 24, 2022, after he was found guilty of killing his 74-year-old father, You Su Kim, between 3pm on October 8, 2018, and 10.30am the following day in their house in Khatan Baru, Chemor, Ipoh, Perak.
He lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal on March 6 last year.
According to media reports, You killed his father by severing his head and chopping up his body after the deceased scolded him for consuming drugs at home.
The victim’s head was buried in the backyard while the body parts were dumped in a 1.5m-deep sewage hole.
In mitigation, Amir said his client was the only one among four siblings who took care of their cancer-stricken father, who became bedridden after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer three months earlier.
His client’s family members were also hopeful that he would be spared the death sentence as they had already lost their father.
Deputy public prosecutor How May Ling asked the court to impose between 30 to 40 years jail sentence, saying that forensic evidence showed slash wounds to the deceased’ neck, which was the cause of death, alongside 15 other injuries.
The deceased’s hands and leg were also severed.
You was placed under observation at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Perak, for 22 days, and prosecution witness Dr Ian Lloyd Anthony testified during the trial that he was of sound mind at the time of the offence.
— Bernama
