Facing the law: The suspects arriving at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex in this filepic. (Inset) Morais.
PUTRAJAYA: The six men who murdered Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais nine years ago failed in their appeal against their conviction and death sentence.
The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and death sentence of former pathologist Kol Dr R. Kunaseegaran, 61; money lender S. Ravi Chandran, 53; and unemployed R. Dinishwaran, 32; AK Thinesh Kumar, 31; M. Vishwanath, 34; and S. Nimalan, 31.
A three-judge panel consisting of Justices Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Azmi Ariffin unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by the six men yesterday.
The men were convicted by the High Court on July 10, 2020.
In its decision, Justice Hadhariah said after examining the grounds of judgement by the High Court judge and the evidence presented in court, the Court of Appeal found that the trial judge did not err in terms of law and facts.
“The conviction imposed (against the six men) by the High Court was correct,” she said.
Justice Hadhariah said the murder was carefully planned, and the condition of the body when it was found showed the cruelty of the accused persons.
“If killing the victim was not enough, the deceased’s car was also burnt and his personal belongings were disposed of.
“This murder incident is categorised as extraordinary compared to an ordinary murder incident.
“Therefore, in our opinion, the punishment that commensurates the offence committed is hanging to death,” said Justice Hadhariah.
She also said that when Morais’ body was found, it was fully clothed, (but) without shoes, and the hands were tied behind his back with a tie.
“There are seven pressure marks or compressions on the chest, shoulders and back of the body, which are placed in a sack in a foetal position.
“The sack was tied with iron wire and then put into the drum. Then cement was poured into the drum barrel, which was then dumped into a swampy area,” she said.
She said forensic experts testified that the cause of Morais’ death was due to suffocation.
On July 10, 2020, the High Court sentenced the six men to death after finding them guilty of killing Morais.
They were charged with killing Morais, 55, at a location along Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul and Jalan USJ 1/6D, Subang Jaya, between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015.
The deceased was reported missing on the date in question and was last seen leaving the condominium in a Proton Perdana car from Menara Duta, Kuala Lumpur, to his office at the Attorney General’s Chambers in Putrajaya.
His body was found in a drum filled with concrete at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya, on Sept 16 of the same year.
