Reduced sentence: Asni being led into the Federal Court at the Johor Baru Court Complex for his hearing.
JOHOR BARU: Two men convicted in high-profile murder cases have escaped the gallows after the Federal Court commuted their death sentences to jail terms and whippings.
In the first case, the court set aside the death sentence against Indonesian national La Ode Ardi Rasila, 47, who was convicted by the Shah Alam High Court in 2014 of murdering bank officer Norazita Abu Talib a year earlier.
Presiding on the panel were Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat together with Federal Court Judges Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, who sentenced La Ode to 38 years’ in jail and 12 strokes of the cane for the murder.
He was also sentenced to 33 years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane for the second charge under Section 3 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971.
The two sentences were ordered to run concurrently from the date of his arrest on Nov 10, 2013.
On Feb 29, 2016, the Federal Court in Putrajaya upheld the hanging sentence against La Ode after a panel of five judges led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif unanimously rejected his appeal because they were satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to uphold the decision of the Shah Alam High Court before that.
La Ode used a fake identity card to settle and find work in Malaysia before becoming a security guard in 2012.
He was convicted of killing Norazita, who was 37 at the time, in a building in Subang Jaya on Oct 23, 2013.
La Ode then reportedly asked the victim’s colleague to put RM500,000 in cash into a bag before escaping on a motorcycle.
The second case involved a former trader who murdered a French tourist in May 2011.
The Federal Court sentenced Asni Omar to 36 years in jail with 12 strokes of the cane starting from the date of his arrest on July 21, 2011.
Asni, 49, was convicted by a Kuantan High Court under Section 302 of the Penal Code for killing Stephanie Foray, 30, at a house in Kampung Tekek, Pahang, between 8pm on May 10 and noon on May 12, 2011.
Foray’s remains were found some three months later buried in a cave on Pulau Tioman.
On Aug 16, 2016, the Federal Court in Putrajaya upheld Asni’s death sentence after the appeal was ultimately rejected by a five-member panel led by the then Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, who decided that there was no merit in the appeal.
