MUAR, Sept 12 — An unemployed man charged with murdering his elderly parents and a niece and then setting fire to their house was sentenced to nine years in prison today by the Sessions Court for causing grievous hurt to another niece.
Judge Nariman Badruddin handed down the sentence after Azman Mohamed Nor, 48, pleaded guilty to the charge.
He was also fined RM5,000 in default of five months in jail for the offence.
The accused was charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt on the 14-year-old girl with a wooden stick at a house at Jalan Sekolah Kampung Paya Redan, Muar, between 1am and 3am on August 9 this year.
The charge, framed under Section 326 of the Penal Code, provides imprisonment for up to 20 years, a fine or whipping upon conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Arif Marzuki requested an appropriate punishment to be imposed on the accused due to the severe injuries suffered by the victim, who sustained lacerations on the head and was given eight stitches for the injury and also broke an arm.
In mitigation, Azman, unrepresented, told the court that he regretted and felt guilty for his action and was remorseful.
According to the case facts, the victim and a step-sister, who was killed in the incident, rushed out of the burning house to get help from the accused but the latter struck them until they collapsed.
Thinking that the girls were unconscious, Azman fled from the scene, while the victim ran to a neighbour's house who then sent her to the Sultanah Fatimah Hospital for treatment.
The accused returned to the scene later and left the place after he was unable to find the victim.
He was arrested on August 14 at 1.13am along Jalan Sultan Ismail in front of Pasaraya Lot 10, Bukit Bintang, in Kuala Lumpur.
On August 20, Azman was charged in the Magistrate's Court with the murder of his elderly parents: mother Ara Ab Hamit, 76, and father Mohamed Nor Mohamed Yassin, 82, and his niece, Noradriana Nor Hasyim, 11, between 1am and 3am on August 9 in a house in Kampung Paya Redan, Pagoh.
The charges were framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty and can be commuted to a jail term between 30 and 40 years, and whipping of no fewer than 20 strokes of the cane upon conviction.
The court has set October 24 for mention of the case.
— Bernama
