PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court here today commuted the death sentence imposed on a former resort housekeeper to 38 years in prison for murdering his employer who was five months’ pregnant, almost 16 years ago.
Hamzah Osman’s application for a review of his death sentence under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 was allowed by a three-member panel comprising judges Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais.
In delivering the court’s decision, justice Harmindar also ordered Hamzah to be given 12 strokes of the cane and for the sentence to run from the date of his arrest on August 21, 2008.
Hamzah, 33, was initially found guilty and sentenced to death by the high court in 2014 but in 2017 the Federal Court ordered a retrial.
Then in 2018, the Ipoh High Court found Hamzah guilty and sentenced him to death for murdering Norazlida Iden, 31, at Room 202, Suria Beach Resort, Teluk Nipah, Pulau Pangkor, Perak at 1am on August 18, 2008.
He further lost his appeals in the Court of Appeal and Federal Court in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Dhiya Syazwani Izyan Mohd Akhir objected to Hamzah’s application to commute his death sentence on the grounds that the deceased was five months’ pregnant at the time and, therefore, two lives were lost.
Hamzah’s lawyer, Ali Munawar Razak, appealed for his client to be given a second chance, highlighting that Hamzah was merely 18-years-old at the time and had expressed remorse for his actions.
According to the facts of the case, Hamzah, who was employed as a maintenance worker and housekeeper by the deceased, was said to have disciplinary problems and was often reprimanded by the deceased before he was eventually terminated.
The deceased, however, allowed him to stay at the resort while looking for a new job.
The day of the incident, the deceased’s husband received news of her death in the room. Later, he found that her belongings, including money, jewellery, a laptop, cell phones and a digital camera, were missing.
A post-mortem revealed that the injuries to the deceased’s head were inflicted by multiple blows from a blunt and hard object.
Police arrested Hamzah and two other men three days later and seized the deceased’s stolen jewellery and handphones from him. Hamzah then led police to recover seven pieces of jewellery from a goldsmith shop where he had sold them on August 19, 2008 for RM1,500. – May 2, 2024