KUALA LUMPUR: S. Manivanan’s death four years ago was described by the High Court yesterday as "very violent and unjustified".
But the victim’s mother S.M. Patmavathy, 51, was clearly dissatisfied. After court adjourned she approached the families of the accused and choking with emotion asked them several times: "Is this justice?"
The family members had nothing to say.
Divorcee Rabiah Basry Sultan, 35, who has a 9-year-old daughter, was living with Manivanan when the incident happened four years ago.
She hired M. Jinaraj, 26, and I. Jay Kumar, 23, to chop off Manivanan’s legs, but the injuries led to his death.
Jinaraj and Jay Kumar pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Jinaraj, a storekeeper and Jay Kumar, who is unemployed, were charged with committing the offence on July 5, 2003 and Rabiah was charged with abetment.
Lim told a packed courtroom she agreed with DPP Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim that public interest should be given importance.
"The court takes into consideration the severity of the crime committed by Jinaraj and Jay Kumar, as they were armed with a parang and a piece of wood respectively, and they acted on Rabiah’s instructions," she said.
"As a result of the assault, there were multiple slash wounds on the victim’s head, and his right leg was almost severed at the knee, while there were multiple slash wounds to his left leg and heel."
Describing the incident as "very violent and unjustified", Lim said all three accused were initially charged with murder and they should consider themselves lucky that it was amended.
"If the matter had gone through a full trial, the court would not hesitate to give the maximum sentence allowed under this section, which is 10 years’ jail or fine or both."
Lim said the court could not accept submission by counsel Karpal Singh, representing Rabiah, that she should be given a short jail term.
She said as the crime was serious, she had to consider public interest and the sentence should be a deterrent.
She ordered the sentence to run from the date of arrest.
As the sentence was pronounced, Rabiah who was wearing a light blue baju kurung and tudung, turned behind and was seen smiling at her family members.
Jinaraj’s counsel, Mohd Azarol Razak, counsel S. Saravanan for Jay Kumar and Karpal said they were unlikely to appeal the ruling.
When asked by reporters, Patmavathy said she did not want to see the accused go to the gallows.
"Nobody wants to see more loss of life.
"However, the court should consider I lost my eldest son. My son had a Master’s in electrical engineering.
"Manivanan and Rabiah were childhood friends. We even treated her as family and this is what she did."
Patmavathy said she was told the sentence could be up to 10 years but the accused had got only seven years.
"I was hoping they would get the maximum," she said.
Rabiah’s father, who declined to be identified, said he accepted his daughter’s jail term as fate.
Source: The New Straits Time
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