A three-member apex court panel led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat unanimously held that Ermiadi’s conviction for murder was safe.

Also on the panel were Justices Rhodzariah Bujang and Abdul Karim Jalil.

Ermiadi, who worked at an online gambling outlet in Rawang, killed Romsari Sitanggang, also an Indonesian, at the premises on Oct 12, 2017.

The High Court had convicted Ermiadi of Romsari’s murder and sentenced him to death. The Court of Appeal later upheld both his conviction and sentence.

However, the apex court today exercised its discretion to commute the death sentence to 35 years in prison, coupled with 12 strokes of the rotan.

The court also ordered the prison sentence to run from Ermiadi’s date of arrest on Oct 17, 2017.

According to the facts of the case, Romsari came to the unit where Ermiadi and his colleague lived on Oct 11, 2017.

The trio spent the evening and had dinner together. The colleague left the unit after dinner.

Two days later, a neighbour confronted Ermiadi about a foul smell coming from the unit. Ermiadi said there was a dead rat in his room.

The neighbour also informed the gambling outlet’s owner, Tan Chong Guan, about the smell.

The colleague then opened Ermiadi’s door and saw blood stains on the floor, and “something covered with a blanket”.

The police were called and recovered a woman’s remains from the scene. A post-mortem report indicated that she suffered injuries to her chest and that two of her ribs were fractured.

Police also recovered CCTV footage from the unit, where a man was seen strangling a woman until she became limp. Ermiadi was arrested a few days later.

Earlier today, Ermiadi’s lawyer Gooi Soon Seng pleaded for clemency on his client’s behalf.

He said Ermiadi should not be placed in prison for a long period at the expense of taxpayers, and asked for a sentence of not more than 30 years.

Deputy public prosecutor Ng Siew Wee argued that Ermiadi should serve between 33 and 35 years.