5 Malaysian Vigilantes To Hang To Death For Killing A Suspected Robber
They were described by a judge as "a tiger hungry for its own justice."
By Sadho Ram — 28 Dec 2017, 01:34 PM
On 27 December, five men, including two army officers, were sentenced to death by the Kuala Lumpur High Court after they were found guilty of fatally beating up a suspected robber last year
They were sentenced under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence, by Judicial Commissioner Mohamad Shariff Abu Samah.
JC Shariff convicted the five accused saying that by taking justice into their own hands, these men had forgotten the sanctity of the law, reported The Star Online.
The victim, Mohd Yusof Abd Khalib, was beaten outside the V-Club Snooker club in Taman Intan Baiduri, KL, at 8.30pm on 1 May 2016
The 26-year-old died the next day in a hospital where he was taken after the beating.
According to a post-mortem, which was conducted by an expert witness, Dr Siew Sheue Feng, there were 93 injuries listed on the victim.
Some of which included fatal blunt force trauma to the head, bleeding in the brain, damage to the spine, as well as cuts and bruises all over the body.
The five accused claimed in the court that they were making a "citizen's arrest and had planned to hand over Yusof to the police"
Judicial Commissioner Mohamad Shariff Abu Samah, in his 245-page written judgment, rubbished their claim as "a mere fiction" and described it as "nonsense."
"The first accused who was also at the crime scene deliberately allowed the attack to take place whereby the serious injuries would usually cause death. They later brought the deceased in a car and left his wife alone outside the snooker club.
"The overall picture seen at the end of the case was that the second to the fifth accused had indeed assaulted the deceased by kicking and stomping him repeatedly and violently," JC Shariff said.
Judicial Commissioner Shariff also questioned the fact none of the five men called the police, and instead took the law into their own hands, adding that as army officers, they should know better
"The actions of the five accused had exceeded noble human values by taking the law into their own hands. Although the victim might have been a robber, the correct action would be to take him to the police station, not to attack him like a tiger hungry for its own justice," JC Shariff said in the 245-page written judgement.
The five who have been sentenced to death by hanging are:
34-year-old Mohamad Hairul Abdullah (army officer)
34-year-old Lawrence anak Masing (army officer)
31-year-old Zaidi Zainal (self-employed)
31-year-old Kai Weng (supervisor)
24-year-old M. Yogesvaran (security guard)
