A former restaurant worker’s murder conviction was reduced to culpable homicide, resulting in a 15-year prison sentence instead of the death penalty.
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today commuted a former restaurant worker’s death sentence to 15 years’ imprisonment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
A three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah substituted the murder conviction and death sentence imposed by the High Court on K. Rovin Joty, now 41, with a conviction under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code.
The court ordered the 15-year jail term to run from the date of his arrest on Feb 19, 2018, with the other judges on the panel being Justices Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid.
The High Court had on Sept 23, 2022, found Rovin Joty guilty of murdering 27-year-old Gurwinder Singh Gill Amar Singh and sentenced him to death before he appealed the decision.
The offence occurred at Lorong Limau Manis 1, Bangsar Park, Kuala Lumpur, at 2.30 am on May 25, 2008.
According to the case facts, the appellant exited his vehicle and allegedly attacked the deceased with a machete, with the victim suffering a severed hand while trying to fend off the assault.
The deceased was rushed to the University Malaya Medical Centre for treatment but was later pronounced dead from multiple slash wounds to the body.
Deputy public prosecutor Zaki Asyraf Zubir appeared for the prosecution in today’s proceedings, while lawyers Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad, Joshua Tay H’ng Foong and Lee Yee Woei represented Rovin Joty.
