PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has upheld the 18-year prison sentence imposed on a former civil servant for beating his infant daughter, which led to her death six years ago.
The three-man bench led by Justice Datuk P. Ravinthran, Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing had dismissed the prosecution’s appeal to reinstate the murder charge against Maidin Ibnuhashim.
In the ground of judgment dated July 22, this year posted on the judiciary’s website, Justice Dr Choo said the High Court’s decision to convict and sentence Maidin for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rather than murder, was correct.
He said the High Court judge had evaluated the evidence at the close of the defence case and found there was not enough evidence to establish a murder charge.
He said the High Court judge had rightly sentenced Maidin to 18 years’ jail and the appellate court found no reason to disturb the findings of the High Court judge.
Maidin, 59, was originally charged with the murder of nine-month-old Nurul Shafika at his rented house in Kg Gersik Lama in Labuan between Aug 10, 2018, and Aug 13, 2018.
In Sept 2022, the High Court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the murder charge against Maidin.
Instead, the High Court convicted Maidin of culpable homicide not amounting to murder after finding that there was sufficient evidence for the offence.
The High Court sentenced Maidin to 18 years in prison, starting from his date of arrest on Aug 16, 2018.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the prosecution appealed to the Court of Appeal, seeking to reinstate the murder charge.
During the trial in the High Court, a female child eye-witness testified that she saw Maidin dip the toddler’s fingers and toes in hot water from a rice cooker and had also held the toddler under a running tap, letting the water flow over her head and face.
