An ex-lawyer and a farmhand are still set to meet the hangman for the murder of cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and her three aides 14 years ago.
A three-person apex court bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat unanimously dismissed the death sentence review bid by N Pathmanabhan and T Thilaiyalagan.
The duo were convicted of murder and sentenced to death over the killing, where the victims’ bodies were incinerated with logs on Pathmanabhan’s property at Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.
Their final appeal against their conviction and death sentence was dismissed by the Federal Court on March 16, 2017.
Tengku Maimun delivered the ruling on behalf of fellow apex bench member judges Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais at the end of today’s review proceedings.
“We dismiss the application and maintain the death sentence,” the top judge said.
Earlier during the review hearing, Pathmanabhan’s counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon sought a review as there was allegedly no clear evidence of whether the victims died by beatings or being burnt.
The lawyer argued that the prosecution failed to prove its contention that the crime was a brutal and savage murder that amounted to the “rarest of the rare”.
On the part of Thilaiyalagan, his counsel Amer Hamzah Arshad argued that his client was a young man at 19 years of age when he was first charged and later found guilty at 22.
The lawyer pleaded that his 33-year-old client deserved a second chance due to him being the youngest among those convicted for the murder, as well as having the best chance of being reformed.
“He has had a girlfriend since high school, and she is still waiting for him for the day when they can settle down and get married.
“The girlfriend is still waiting for him because of hope and that Thilaiyalagan has reformed and redeemed himself.
“He was someone with a bright future with plans to pursue tertiary education and to settle down with a family. This person deserves a second chance,” Amer said.
However, in response, deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar argued for the duo’s death sentence to remain, pointing out that the murders were perpetrated with no sympathy or any sense of humanity.
“There was violence in this case. If there had been no violence, blood would not have spattered on the walls (of the farmhouse).
“The way the lives of innocent victims were taken away, we cannot accept this kind of murder. Their lives were taken away in a gruesome and brutal (manner).
“When the killing happened, the 33rd prosecution witness heard screaming. (Imagine) the fear on the victims’ faces at that moment,” Dusuki said.
Earlier today before the apex court, another farmhand, 44-year-old R Kathavarayan, had withdrawn his review bid against his death sentence over the murder.
On May 23, 2013, the Shah Alam High Court convicted and sentenced Pathmanabhan, Thilaiyalagan, Kathavarayan, and another farmhand, R Matan.
They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read with Section 34 of the same code, which carries the then mandatory death sentence.
However, on March 16, 2017, the Federal Court acquitted Matan, ruling there was insufficient evidence to implicate the 33-year-old with the murders.
Besides Sosilawati, 47, the other three victims were bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and the businessperson’s driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44.
Last year, Parliament passed the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill, which allowed those sentenced to death before the amendment to apply to the apex court for a sentence review. – Malaysiakini