Unemployed man escapes the hangman's noose, jailed 32 years for murdering friend

PUTRAJAYA: An unemployed man escaped the hangman's noose after the Federal Court today commuted his death sentence to 32 years in prison for murdering his friend in Gerik, Perak, six years ago.

A three-judge panel comprising Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judges Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais allowed Mohd Norol Latif Abd Raof's appeal to set aside the death sentence imposed on him by the High Court and substitute it with the jail term.

Justice Abang Iskandar ordered the 55-year-old man to serve the jail sentence from the date of arrest on Jan 27, 2018.

Mohd Norol Latif was spared the whipping sentence as he is over 50 years old.

Earlier, lawyer Charan Singh, representing Mohd Norol Latif, told the court that his client was withdrawing his appeal against his conviction and would only proceed with his appeal against the death sentence.

Charan Singh, assisted by lawyer Noor Farihah Arshad ,had urged the court to commute Mohd Norol Latif's death sentence to 30 years in jail, but deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fuad Abdul Aziz asked the court to impose 35 years in jail considering the loss of life.

Mohd Norol Latif was sentenced to death by the High Court in Taiping, Perak, on Aug 21, 2019, after he was found guilty of murdering Mohd Shahrulnizam Abdullah in front of a house in Kg Jong, Gerik, Perak at 1.20 am on Jan 16, 2018.

The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against his conviction and the death sentence on April 6 last year.

According to the facts of the case, Mohd Norol Latif stabbed the deceased on the left chest after a fight over a power bank which the deceased claimed that Mohd Norol Latif had stolen from him. Both men were close friends.

The deceased was found unconscious in a pool of blood by a roadside. Two friends took him to the Plang Health Clinic and an assistant medical officer who examined the deceased pronounced him dead.

Mohd Norol Latif had led the police to a house to recover the knife following his arrest.

-- BERNAMA

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