Two Friends Sentenced To Death For Murdering A Retiree

PUTRAJAYA, April 30 (Bernama) -- Two men, including a former military personnel, were sentenced to death by the Taiping High Court for murdering a man five years ago.

Judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin imposed the sentence after finding Mohd Hafidz Ibrahim, 39, and Muhammad Ahmad Md Yusoff, 35, guilty of killing Mohd Zaki Md Aluwee, 42, in a forest area at Jalan Kubu Gajah-Lenggong, Selama district, Perak between 5 pm and 10.50 pm on Oct 10, 2021.

In her grounds of judgment dated yesterday, she said the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt against both the accused.

She said due to the gravity of the offence, she imposed the death penalty on them.

“From the totality of the evidence adduced by the prosecution, the court found that the pieces of evidence when taken together do point to both accused persons as the perpetrators of the crime,” she said.

Justice Noor Ruwena said Mohd Hafidz had a motive to kill the deceased as he was under the impression that he (the deceased) had an affair with his ex-wife, although they are already divorced, he could not ‘move on”.

She said the killing was pre-meditated as evidenced by the manner in which the deceased was attacked and the severity of the injuries inflicted, showed a clear intention to cause immediate death and that the injury inflicted on the back of the body (of the deceased) was to ensure that he was dead.

Investigations revealed that in September 2021, after their divorce, Mohd Hafidz had confronted his ex-wife about her purported affair with the deceased, a retired army officer, which she vehemently denied. 

Justice Noor Ruwena found that Muhammad Ahmad, a businessman, was also involved in the crime as he was present at the time when the deceased was taken away from his house until he was last seen with the deceased and Mohd Hafidz leaving the house of a friend of Mohd Hafidz.

She said Muhammad Ahmad, had led the police to the location where the remains of the deceased was found two days after he went missing.  

According to the facts of the case, the hands of the deceased was handcuffed at the back and he appeared to have multiple stab wounds on his decomposing body.

--BERNAMA