PUTRAJAYA: Two general workers escaped the gallows when the Federal Court today commuted the death sentence imposed on them to 30 years in prison and 12 lashes of the rotan for killing a farm worker in an oil palm plantation, seven years ago.
A panel of three judges chaired by Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal in an unanimous decision rejected the appeal of A. Rames, 47, and Tew Siew Kem, 46, to set aside the conviction against them and the court replaced the death sentence with a prison sentence.
“The appeal against conviction was without merit and the conviction against the appellants are affirmed. We therefore allow the appeal against the sentence by substituting the death penalty with a 30-year jail term and 12 strokes of the rotan,” said judge Harmindar who sat in the panel together with judges Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin.
The prison sentence imposed on Rames starts from the date of his arrest on May 15, 2017 while Tew’s starts on Nov 8, 2018.
Judge Harmindar in his judgment said there was no miscarriage of justice because Tew or his lawyer were given every opportunity to see the court transcripts and recordings and recall any prosecution witness.
“Two witnesses were called back and cross-examined by the lawyer. Therefore, we find no merit on this ground,” said judge Harmindar.
Furthermore, judge Harmindar said there was no merit in the appellant’s argument that the trial judge failed to appreciate the inconsistencies and contradictions between the testimony of the two prosecution witnesses.
“The trial judge had carefully considered the inconsistencies and came to the right conclusion that these two witnesses were credible despite the inconsistencies. Under the circumstances, we find that the convictions are safe,” said the judge.
According to the case, Rames was charged with another person who is still at large for killing A. Arumugam at a palm oil plantation in Jalan Rawang, Bestari Jaya in Kuala Selangor between 11.30pm, April 3, 2017 and 7.15am, April 4, 2017.
Tew was charged with abetting Rames to commit the offence, according to Section 302 of the Penal Code read with Section 34 of the same code, which provides for the death penalty or imprisonment for a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 40 years and no less than 12 lashes of the rotan.
The prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Datin Asmah Musa, Rames was represented by lawyer M. Manoharan while lawyers V. Ayasamy and Renuka Krishnasamy represented Tew.
