Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who chaired a three-member bench, held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt the murder charge against Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Azamuddin Sofi, Najib Razi, Afif Najmudin Azahat, Shobirin Sabri and Hakeem Ali.
Also on the bench were Justices Zaini Mazlan and Azmi Ariffin.
The six men were charged with murdering Zulfarhan at UPNM’s Jebat hostel on May 22, 2017.
However, the High Court in 2021 reduced their charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and sentenced them to 18 years in prison.
Zulfarhan died at Serdang Hospital on June 1, 2017.
Hadhariah said the High Court had erred in reducing the murder charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
She said pathologist Dr Salmah Arshad testified that Zulfarhan had suffered 90 injuries all over his body.
“The doctor said, based on (findings in) medical journals, 30-50% burns (suffered by a victim) are likely to be fatal.
“Dr Salmah also said the chances of survival for Zulfarhan – who suffered more than 80% burns to his body – were slim,” Hadhariah said.
She said Zulfarhan was assaulted by his peers non-stop for two days, from May 21 to 22, 2017, for allegedly stealing Akmal’s laptop.
However, she noted that the laptop was never found, despite attempts by fellow classmate Syafiq Abdullah to look for the laptop in Zulfarhan’s locker.
“Akmal was very angry over the missing laptop and insisted that Zulfarhan stole it, but the deceased denied it,” Hadhariah said, adding that Zulfarhan never admitted to stealing the laptop despite being repeatedly assaulted by his peers.
After two days, Akmal and the four others – excluding Hakeem – told a classmate that they wanted to “treat” Zulfarhan for his injuries by taking him to a clinic.
“The clinic’s doctor (Dr Afzar Hussin) wrote referral letters so that Zulfarhan could be admitted to Serdang Hospital.
“But they (the accused persons) never sent him to the hospital. They told Dr Afzar that Zulfarhan’s injuries were due to an ‘explosion’ during a training session,” Hadhariah said.