A three-member Court of Appeal bench, chaired by Hanipah Farikullah, said today they found the conviction and sentence to be safe after going through the appeal records and written submissions.

“The issues raised by their lawyers have been dealt with by the trial judge and there is no miscarriage of justice,” Hanipah said in dismissing the appeals by Siti Nor Asiah Abdul Wahad, Zulhiami Md Darus and Rahmat Nazarudin.

Hanipah, who sat with Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Nordin Hassan, said the charge on the murder date was amended but it did not prejudice the accused.

“They conducted their defence based on the amended date. As such, the conviction and sentence are maintained,” she said.

The trio have one more automatic right to appeal to the Federal Court.

Deputy public prosecutor Mokhzany Fariz Mokhtar appeared for the prosecution while Gabriel Susayan represented Rahmat. Hanif Hassan appeared for Zulhiami while Ahmad Ishrakh Saad represented Siti.

In late 2019, High Court judge Abdul Halim Aman sentenced Siti, 31, Zulhiami, 36, and Rahmat, 27, to death for the murder of Fairul Haqimmie Mokhtar.

Zulhiami and Siti, who is a widow with a son, were charged with planning and abetting Rahmat to murder Fairul between 12.30am and 1am on Aug 29, 2016.

The crime was committed at an apartment on Jalan Dato Yusof Shahbudin 3 in Taman Sentosa, Klang.

They were charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code read together with Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

The motive for the crime was not revealed in court.

The trial judge had said there was overwhelming circumstantial evidence to implicate them in the crime.

A prosecution witness had testified that Rahmat hit Fairul with a piece of wood, which caused the victim to collapse, before hearing Siti suggesting to Rahmat to wrap up the body with a mattress and dump it in a river in Section 24, Shah Alam.

Police could not find the body.