Kuala lumpur: Former military pathologist, Colonel Dr. R. Kunaseegaran, convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Kevin Anthony Morais in 2015, has filed a review application in an attempt to overturn his conviction. His lawyers, Datuk N. Sivananthan and Jasmine Cheong, confirmed filing the application under Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules 1995.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, in the notice of motion, Kunaseegaran, 62, is seeking his appeal to be re-heard by the Federal Court or any other relief the court deems appropriate. In the affidavit supporting his review application, he claims that he suffered grave injustice and that he deserves a proper and fair trial.
On July 1 this year, the Federal Court upheld Kunaseegaran’s conviction, along with two other individuals, S. Nimalan, 31, and S. Ravi Chandran, 53, for the murder of Morais, whose body was discovered in a cement-filled oil drum at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya, on September 16, 2015. However, the court commuted the death sentences of Nimalan and Ravi Chandran to life imprisonment.
Nimalan was sentenced to 35 years in prison with 12 strokes of the cane. Ravi Chandran was given a 40-year jail term, with the court refraining from imposing whipping due to his age being above 50.
The Federal Court bench, led by the then Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, held that Kunaseegaran’s death sentence remained as he had withdrawn his appeal against the sentence. The bench also included the then Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, who discharged and acquitted three other individuals, namely R. Dinishwaran, 32, A.K. Thinesh Kumar, 31, and M. Vishwanath, 34.
On July 10, 2020, the High Court sentenced the six men to death after finding them guilty of murdering Morais, 55, around Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul and No. 1, Jalan USJ 1/6D, Subang Jaya, between 7 am and 8 pm on September 4, 2015. The Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals on March 14 last year.
In his affidavit, Kunaseegaran reiterates his claim of grave injustice and insists on his right to a proper and fair trial.