The panel, led by judge Yaacob Md Sam, affirmed the findings of High Court judge Azman Abdullah that Gerald Wayne Mickelson was guilty of killing Guilda Mickelson. The other judges on the panel were Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Ravinthran Paramaguru.

Mickelson was convicted of murder in September 2018.

Prosecution witnesses had told the High Court that Mickelson had “confessed” to hitting Guilda’s head with a lamp in the hotel room, and subsequently strangled her.

The pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Guilda’s remains told the trial that the cause of death was due to “compression of the neck”, resulting from strangulation.

“The appellant (Mickelson) told the hotel staff and confessed he killed his former wife. The admission of the appellant to the staff raised an inference that he alone was directly responsible for her death,” said Court of Appeal judge Ravinthran, who wrote the court’s judgment.

On an issue raised by the defence that the police did not investigate injuries Mickelson sustained during his fight with Guilda, Ravindran said the court found no merit in this argument.

“His defence was premised on self-defence, and that the deceased, who was heavier, physically attacked him during the fight. But the judge did not believe the notion.

“The investigating officer said he (Mickelson) never complained about being injured and she did not notice injuries on him either,” he added.

Meanwhile, the defence also argued that the trial judge had made an erroneous finding on the mens rea (intention) element of the case, as the prosecution failed to prove that the fatal injury on the neck was intended.

“Based on the evidence, the appellant had undoubtedly strangled the deceased to death, and there is no room to argue that the infliction of the said injury was unintentional or accidental,” Ravinthran said.

Mickelson’s lawyer N Sivananthan said they were taking the case to the Federal Court.