By Free Malaysia Today
Judge Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ordered 28-year-old Istisham Noor Elahi’s jail term to begin from the date of his arrest in 2016.
A security guard was sentenced to 17 years’ jail after he was found guilty of causing the death of his father-in-law six years ago.
However, Nazlan acquitted unemployed Said A. Zamzani, 27, of murder as the defence had created a doubt in the prosecution’s case.
Nazlan, who was promoted to the Court of Appeal three months ago, has been hearing the case since he was a High Court judge.
The two men were jointly charged with the murder of Abdul Aziz Suri at Flat Danau Kota, in Setapak, here, at about 7pm, on Oct 4, 2016.
Nazlan said Said put up a consistent defence even at the prosecution stage and created reasonable doubt to obtain the acquittal.
The judge said it was relevant to consider Said’s mental condition as the accused was slow, had difficulty in differentiating right or wrong, and merely followed what was told to him.
“Such a mental condition will be relevant, and also the prosecution did not offer any rebuttal evidence,” he said.
Nazlan said he found that Istisham’s defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
The judge said both the prosecution’s case and the post-mortem report did not show that the act was done with intention to commit murder.
“As such, Istisham is only found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced to 17 years in prison,” he said.
Lawyers Amer Hamzah Arshad, Joshua Tay, Beatrice Chin, and Lee Yee Woei represented Said while Deputy Public Prosecutors Izalina Farhana and Afiq Nazrin prosecuted.
Lawyer Rajpal Singh, who was assisted by Chandra Teeban, appeared for Istisham.
Rajpal, who took over the case when Istisham was ordered to enter his defence, submitted that the motive for the crime was unclear and also that the murder weapon was never found.
