Justice Norsharidah Awang sentenced K Alagesan, 32, to 38 years imprisonment for the murder of Sugan Ganesan, with the jail term to begin from Sept 10, 2020.

The judge also ordered Alagesan to be whipped 15 times.

Norsharidah said she decided to impose the jail term after considering the submissions of both parties, the application of the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023, and the amended Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

Since last year, judges have been given the discretion of imposing a prison sentence or the death penalty for serious offences like murder and drug trafficking.

Those convicted of murder may be jailed for between 30 and 40 years, while male offenders aged below 50 will also receive between 12 and 24 strokes of the rotan.

Lawyers have said that the Criminal Procedure Code and case law do not prevent persons accused of serious crimes from pleading guilty. However, in murder cases, accused persons usually claim trial, on the advice of their lawyers.

Norsharidah noted that the murder charge was read to Alagesan in Tamil by an interpreter, and that the accused decided to plead guilty despite being represented by a court-appointed lawyer.

The judge said she had, prior to recording the plea, ascertained that it had been made without qualification, and that the accused understood its nature and consequences.

She also said the accused understood and admitted to the facts of the case and the exhibits tendered by the prosecution.

“The requirement of Section 173 of the CPC has been fulfilled by the court,” she said in her 15-page judgment posted on the judiciary’s website earlier this week.

Alagesan has filed an appeal against the sentence, which he deemed “excessive”.

Citing case law from India, Norsharidah said the normal rule was that the offence of murder shall be punished with a sentence of life imprisonment, and the court could depart and impose the death penalty only if there were special reasons to do so.

Alagesan murdered Sugan at an old folks home in Petaling Jaya on Sept 9, 2020. It is unclear why the accused and deceased were in the home.

The case facts state that the accused entered the living room and struck the victim, who was sleeping, several times on the head with a hammer.

A witness saw the accused committing the act and leaving the room. The owner of the home then contacted the police, who arrived minutes later and arrested the accused.

A post-mortem showed that the deceased died from blunt trauma to the head.

In mitigation, lawyer K Vickneswaran said his client had by pleading guilty saved the court’s and the prosecution’s time and expenses.

He urged the court to impose a jail term on the accused, who came to Malaysia in 2019 to seek employment.

“He expresses remorse and apologises to the court and the Malaysian government for his actions,” the lawyer said.

Deputy public prosecutor Lokman Kasim meanwhile urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence due to the brutality of the offence, saying the accused demonstrated a lack of remorse.