PUTRAJAYA, April 29 — An odd job worker who was found guilty for killing his village friend and living with the corpse for four days, had his death sentence commuted to 30 years’ jail by the Court of Appeal today.
The three-man panel led by judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail also ordered Mohd Azhud Ibrahim, 33, to be given 12 strokes of the rotan.
The panel, which comprised Justices Datuk Azmi Ariffin and Datuk S.M. Komathy Suppiah, also dismissed Mohd Azhud’s appeal to overturn his conviction.
However, the court substituted the death sentence imposed on Azhud to 30 years’ jail with 12 strokes of the rotan.
In affirming the accused’s conviction for the murder offence, Justice Hadhariah said circumstantial evidence showed that it was Azhud who murdered Ahmad Azam Ahmad.
The accused was appealing against the February 21, 2023, decision of the Ipoh High Court in sentencing him to death after finding him guilty of killing Ahmad Azam, 43, at a house in Lorong Mohd Ali Kampung Bahagia, Teluk Intan, Perak, at 12.10am on August 10, 2018.
According to the case facts, a friend of Azhud who went to the house smelled a foul odour inside the house. He asked the accused about foul odour, and Azhud told him that there was a dead person.
The friend said the accused had said “I am angry with him for a long time. I am upset.
In his testimony from the dock, Azhud claimed he had no intention of murdering his friend after both were involved in a fight. The accused said he hit his friend to protect himself as his friend was aggressive at that time.
Azhud claimed after the fight, he took ganja and slept for two days, and when he woke up, he realised the deceased was lying motionless on the floor and was not breathing.
The accused said he had thought of digging a hole at the back of his house to bury Azam’s body but could not bring himself to do it, so he decided to live together with the body.
A post mortem report showed that the deceased sustained 23 external injuries and severe injuries to the head and chest.
Lawyer Gurbachan Singh, Gobindeep Singh, and Aashwini Rajan represented Mohd Azhud, while deputy public prosecutor Zaki Ashraf Zubir appeared for the prosecution.
— Bernama
