PUTRAJAYA, May 7 — Two turtle egg collectors escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal commuted their mandatory death sentence to 12 years imprisonment today for causing the death of their colleague attempting to break up a fight eight years ago.
A panel of three judges, led by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, meted out the sentence against Faizol Aznan Muhamad, 43, and Mohd Riduan Ismail, 35, after the court unanimously replaced the conviction under Section 302 of the Penal Code for the offence of murder, to Section 304 (a) of the same law.
“Therefore, the sentence under Section 302 of the Penal Code is set aside, and replaced with a 12-year prison sentence, starting from the date of arrest,” she said.
The other judges on the bench were Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.
Faizol and Riduan were arrested in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Earlier, lawyer Ghazali Ismail, representing the two appellants, informed the court that the defence had submitted a representation to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to amend the charges against the clients from Section 302 of the Penal Code to Section 304 (a) of the same law, and the AGC agreed to it.
“The 12-year prison sentence, starting from the date of arrest, was also agreed upon by both parties,” he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Amril Johari also confirmed the matter.
The charge, framed under Section 304 (a), was read to Faizol and Riduan, and they later pleaded guilty to the charge.
The two were accused of causing the death of Razak Abdullah, 50, also a turtle egg collector, at Pantai Geliga, in front of SK Sri Geliga Chukai, Kemaman, at around 7am on June 3, 2016.
The charge was framed under Section 304 (a) of the Penal Code, which provides for a maximum prison sentence of 30 years and is liable to a fine.
Based on the facts of the case, Faizol had an argument with a man, another turtle egg collector, regarding the division of the turtles’ egg-laying area on the beach.
The victim, who was at the scene of the incident, tried to calm both parties, which angered Faizol, who then repeatedly hit the victim in the face with a stick. The second accused, Riduan, intervened by hitting the victim in the face with a helmet.
On August 9, 2021, the Kuala Terengganu High Court sentenced Faizol and Riduan to death after finding that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case at the end of the defence case.
— Bernama
