ALOR SETAR: A former soldier escaped the gallows after the Federal Court today commuted his mandatory death penalty to 38 years imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for the murder of a single mother 10 years ago.
A three-judge panel, led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Mat, unanimously granted Mohammad Yusyairi Saidin’s application for review under Sections 2(4) and 3(1) of the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023
Justice Tengku Maimun set aside the death sentence handed down to Mohammad Yusyairi, 46, by the High Court on Sept 26, 2017, substituting it with a 38-year prison term starting from the date of his arrest on Sept 24, 2014.
Mohammad Yusyairi has already served 10 years of his sentence.
Also presiding were Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court Judge Datuk Nordin Hassan.
According to the facts of the case, on Sept 21, 2014, at around 7.30 am, police received a phone call from a member of the public reporting the discovery of a body at KM10 of the Gunung Inas R&R along Jalan Baling.
Preliminary investigations identified the victim as Hasma Norlela Zaini, 53, a mother of seven. She was found with multiple stab and slash wounds.
Subsequently, police arrested Mohammad Yusyairi on Sept 24, 2014, in front of the 4th Battalion Regiment Camp in Gerik, Perak.
Mohammad Yusyairi was convicted by the High Court and appealed the decision, but the Federal Court upheld his conviction and sentence on Oct 27, 2021.
Earlier in today’s proceedings, deputy public prosecutor Datuk Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim requested the court to impose a 40-year prison sentence, considering the excessive injuries sustained by the victim.
Meanwhile, in the same proceedings, a canteen operator who brutally beat his girlfriend to death and slept next to her body overnight before burning it the next morning was also spared the death penalty.
In July 2016, the High Court sentenced Abd Khalid Md Isa, 53, to death after he pleaded guilty to the murder of Rohani Hashim, 30, at his home on Jalan Pengkalan Datuk Keramat in Bukit Tengah, Bukit Mertajam, between 3 pm on Sept 29 and 6.40 pm on Oct 1, 2014.
However, in December of the same year, the Court of Appeal ruled that his conviction was unsafe and remitted the case to the High Court for a retrial.
Abd Khalid, who was represented by a lawyer, pleaded guilty to the murder charge again during the retrial, after which the judge reaffirmed his conviction and death sentence.
Abd Khalid underwent two psychiatric evaluations in 2016 and 2017, with doctors confirming his fitness to stand trial and enter a plea.
Mohammad Yusyairi and Abd Khalid’s cases were among more than 30 reviews heard during the Federal Court session at the Alor Setar High Court today.
