Court of Appeal delivers verdict to six ex-UPNM cadets over 2017 murder
PUTRAJAYA: The cruel nature surrounding the demise of National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) Navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain was so heinous that the Court of Appeal sent his tormentors to the gallows.
Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who chaired a three-judge panel, described the crime against Zulfarhan as “shocking and rare” and only the death sentence would befit the crime.
Zulfarhan died seven years ago from injuries sustained from being burned by hot iron all over his body, including his private parts.
“We agree with the prosecution that the way the murder was conducted ‘shocked not only the judicial conscience but even the collective conscience of the society’.
“This case is the rarest of the rare involving a heinous crime. Such cruelty must be stopped,” she said in a 93-page judgment yesterday.
Six former UPNM cadets, who were sentenced to 18 years in jail for Zulfarhan’s death, appealed for a lower prison sentence while the prosecution made a cross-appeal to press for the death sentence.
The six are Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali.
In yesterday’s decision, the judge also spoke of how Zulfarhan’s parents must have felt upon having their son’s damaged body returned to them.
“Only Allah would know how they must have been destroyed when they saw that their son was treated that way,” she said.
Justice Hadhariah, who took more than three hours to read the decision, dismissed the six’s appeal and allowed the prosecution’s appeal to reinstate Section 302 of the Penal Code because the trial judge had erred when he reduced the charge against them.
She called upon all six accused to stand in the accused dock before passing the sentence.
“Therefore, we unanimously decide that there will be only one sentence for all six accused persons, where all of them shall be taken to the gallows where they will be hung to death,” she said.
The other judges on the bench were Justices Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Azmi Ariffin.
The first five accused persons were initially charged with murder under Section 302, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction, while Abdoul Hakeem was charged with abetting the murder under Section 109, which carries the same penalty.
However, the High Court later amended the charge to Section 304(a) and convicted them on Nov 2, 2021, for causing Zulfarhan’s death without intent to kill him.
Section 304(a) of the Penal Code provides a prison sentence of up to 30 years and a fine upon conviction if the act is committed with intent to cause death.
Meanwhile, the appellate court also decided on the appeal of another 12 former UPNM students who were found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison for intentionally causing injury to Zulfarhan to coerce a confession that he stole a laptop.
The former students were charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code, which, upon conviction, carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years and a fine.
They are Mohd Hafiz Fauzan Ismail, Mohamad Lukhmanul Hakim Mohd Zain, Ahmad Shafwan Berdal, Muhammad Amirul Asraff Mala, Luqman Hakim Shamsuri Agus, Muhammad Sufi Mohd Mustapha, Noriznan Izzairi Noor Azhar, Muhamad Ashraf Abdullah, Muhammad Danial Firdaus Azmir, Muhammad Hasif Ismail, Muhammad Adib Iman Fuad Ady Sani and Mohamad Syazwan Musa.
The panel allowed the prosecution’s appeal to increase the sentence and dismissed the group’s appeal to have leniency on their sentence.
“We unanimously found that the aggravating factors overcome the accused’s personal factors. In our mind, an appropriate sentence is four years imprisonment.
“Therefore, the three-year imprisonment is set aside and replaced with four years from the date of conviction,” she said.
The former students, who are all 28, were charged with committing the offence in a room at the Asrama Jebat block, UPNM, between 4.45am and 5.45am on May 22, 2017.
Zulfarhan died at Hospital Serdang on June 1, 2017.
