PUTRAJAYA – Not knowing that holding a hot steam iron against the victim could injure him is a “ridiculous defence”, said appellate judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail in her judgment to impose the death penalty on the six people who killed naval cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain.
She also said the torture inflicted by the first to fifth accused, who were former Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) students, on Zulfarhan was “despicable, inhumane and merciless”.
The first to fifth accused she was referring to in the 93-page judgement were Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmuddin Azahat and Mohamad Shobirin Sabri.
The sixth accused, Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali, was previously charged with abetting the other five by injuring Zulfarhan, who succumbed to his numerous injuries.
The judge also said the prosecution has proven beyond doubt that the first to fifth accused have committed murder.
“We found that the trial judge at the high court was confused when they stated that they did not know which injuries on Zulfarhan’s body had caused his death.
“The trial judge had also erred when they said that the court needed to find the most serious injuries to determine whether the first to fifth accused had a common intention to inflict injury on the deceased.
“Actually, under Section 300 (c) of the Penal Code, the prosecution is only required to prove the common intention to inflict injury, and does not need to prove the common intention to inflict injury that could cause murder.
“Following this, we unanimously allowed the prosecution’s appeal against the conviction, set aside the trial judge’s conviction against the accused under Section 304 of the Penal Code and reinstated their original charges under Section 302 of the Penal Code.”
Sitting in the panel with Hadhariah today are Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin.
The panel also found that there is overwhelming evidence that proves the sixth accused, Abdoul Hakeem, was abetting the five in injuring Zulfarhan by instigating and intentionally aiding them to repeatedly burn the victim with a hot steam iron.
“Although the sixth accused did not burn the victim with the steam iron, he was (still) involved in the same offence committed by the first to fifth accused, because he was the one who told them to do so.
“The sixth accused’s defence that he did not hold the iron and did not tell the first to fifth accused to do so are bare denials and does not raise any reasonable doubts against the prosecution’s case.
“Therefore, if the first to fifth accused had committed the offence resulting in the deceased’s death, then the sixth accused is also guilty of committing the same murder,” Hadhariah said.
She also agreed with the prosecution’s contention in this appeal that the murder shocked not only the judicial branch but the collective conscience of society – in overturning the 18-year prison sentence imposed by the high court.
“This kind of case is the rarest of the rare, involving brutal crimes that are extremely dangerous to society. Such cruel acts must be stopped.
“Which parent does not feel disappointed, angry, sad and cries over the passing of their beloved child, when the deceased’s body is returned to them for burial in such a heartbreaking state.
“Only Allah knows how broken and shattered were the hearts of Zulfarhan’s parents when they saw the state of their son, treated in such a way by the six accused.
“It’s as if the accused’s body doesn’t have the slightest value in their eyes, that they are tempted to torture and conduct such cruelty.
“Although the six accused saw the deceased was in pain, they closed their eyes, with no care and continued to press the hot steam iron on almost the entire body of the deceased, resulting in the 90 burn scars.”
She also said despite perpetrators hearing Zulfarhan’s screams of pain, they chose to ignore him and went on with their torture.
“This court will not tolerate such cruelty. We unanimously decide that only one sentence should be given to all six accused where they ought to be brought to a suspension, where they will be sentenced to death by hanging.”
Zulfarhan, who was 21, was tortured by the students as they assumed he had stolen a laptop belonging to the first accused.
All of them were accused of committing the acts in a room at the Jebat Hostel block, UPNM, between 4.45am and 5.45am on May 22, 2017.
Zulfarhan died at Serdang Hospital on June 1, 2017.
Meanwhile, apart from the six accused reinstated with murder charge the court also dismissed the appeal of another 12 former UPNM students who were involved in the incident leading to Zulfarhan’s death.
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.
They were found guilty in 2021 of deliberately injuring Zurfarhan to coerce a confession from him that he had stolen a laptop, as charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code and sentenced to three years imprisonment.
However, today’s panel increased their custodial term to four years, after finding that they had also beaten the deceased for two days straight.
All of them, now aged 28, were accused of committing the acts in two rooms at the Jebat Hostel block, UPNM, between May 21 and 22, 2017. – July 23, 2024