Kuala Lumpur: The Court of Appeal today commuted the death sentence of an unemployed man to 30 years imprisonment for the murder of a dental technologist seven years ago. A three-judge bench comprising Justices Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Azman Abdullah, and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin also sentenced Abdul Malik Rosli to 12 strokes of the cane.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, court-appointed counsel S. Karthigesan, who represented Abdul Malik, confirmed the decision, adding that the sentence was ordered to commence from the date of his arrest on January 31, 2018. He mentioned that the court had ruled Abdul Malik’s case did not meet the “rarest of the rare” threshold to justify the death penalty.

Karthigesan further noted that during mitigation, he informed the court that his client had instructed him to request the death sentence be upheld if his appeal against the conviction was denied. Abdul Malik, 27, was originally convicted by the Seremban High Court in October 2022 for the murder of 28-year-old Mahussin Abdul Rahim.

The murder took place on the fourth floor of the Lukut health clinic quarters in Port Dickson at 1:40 am on January 19, 2018. Mahussin’s body was discovered by his friend 72 hours after he was reported missing when he failed to appear for work on January 22, 2018.

Despite the commutation of his sentence, Abdul Malik still has the opportunity to file a final appeal with the Federal Court. Deputy public prosecutor Siti Rafidah Zainuddin appeared for the prosecution.