Murder Charge Amended

Murder charge amended to causing death
KUALA LUMPUR: Two brothers and a cousin, who were initially charged with murdering a couple on Aifilfitri last year, have been spared the gallows when the High Court here today amended the charge.
Judicial Commissioner Azman Abdullah, in amending the charge at the end of the prosecution case, ruled that the case fell under Exception 5 of Section 300 of the Penal Code. The exception states that "culpable homicide is not murder when the person whose death is cause, being above the age 18 years, suffers death, or takes the risk of death with his own consent.'' However, the three relatives still maintained their not guilty plea and were ordered to enter their defence, which hearing would begin on Dec 30. In the dock are Muhammad Ilyas Abdul Razak, 25, his brother, Muhammad Fauzi, 23, and their cousin, Muhammad Nizam Mohd Ibrahim, 21, who are jointly charged with causing the death of Mohd Ibrahim Kader Mydin, 48, and Rosina SM Mydin Pillay, 42, at house No 5-7C, Blok A, Flat Seri Sarawak, Jalan Kenanga here between noon and 8pm on Oct 1, 2008.
They are charged under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code which carries a jail sentence of up to 20 years.
In his judgment, Azman said although there was no evidence that the three relatives had beaten the couple to death, a witness had testified that Muhammad Fauzi and Muhammad Nizam did that to others on Muhammad Ilyas'' orders. "The court rules that the prosecution has succeeded in establishing a prima facie case under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code," he added. Earlier, Azman said that from witnesses' testimonies, it showed that the three accused and their families believed that the ceremony held on Hari Raya could heal a person from illnesses and also bring back the dead to life. He said the willingness of the family to undergo the healing ceremony proved their belief in the ritual, including on the parents allowing their son to beat them. "A testimony by a witness who heard a ceramah by Muhammad Ilyas showed that the two families (Muhammad Ilyas and Muhammad Nizam's families) had high regard for Muhammad Ilyas' spiritual capabilities," he added. Meanwhile, defence counsel Supramaniam Kasia Pillay, who represented the three accused, said none of the witnesses in the hosue where the incident took place was able to tell how the couple died and who caused their death. He also said that a psychiatric report also confirmed that Muhammad Ilyas had mental problems and that Muhammad Fauzi and Muhammad Nizam were only following Muhammad Ilyas' order. Deputy public prosecutor Anselm Charles Fernandis submitted that the accused murdered the couple to convince other relatives that they could bring the dead back to life. -- BERNAMA

source :
http://m.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20091123205218/mobile/index.pda

this is an article reporting about two brothers and a cousin who were charged with murdering a couple last year had been spared from the punishment as the High Court here amended the charge today. the Judicial Commissioner, Azman Abdullah ruled that the case were fall under Exception 5 of Section 300 of the Penal Code where it is stated that "culpable homicide is not murder when the person whose death is cause, being above the age 18 years, suffers death, or takes the risk of death with his own consent." in this case which mentioned in this article, the reason why the three relatives were not charged under murdering is because the couple themselves were willingly to be beaten by the three as a practice in a ceremony of Hari Raya.

reading this article, I remembered the topic that we've learned in the Legal Framework class, where Sir Sonny said that there is three degrees of murder charge.

1st degree : murder
2nd degree : culpable homicide
3rd degree : accidently murder

this case fell into the second degree where the three relatives were charged culpable homiside. this article has improved my understanding about the murder charge that I've learned in class.