The three-man bench dismissed the prosecution’s appeal to reinstate the murder charge against Maidin Ibnuhashim.

The appeal court held that the High Court’s decision to convict and sentence Maidin for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rather than murder, was correct.

In the court’s grounds of judgment, Justice Choo Kah Sing said the High Court judge had found there was not enough evidence to establish a murder charge.

The appellate court found no reason to disturb the findings of the High Court judge, he said.

Maidin, 59, was originally charged with the murder of nine-month-old Nurul Shafika at his rented house in Kg Gersik Lama in Labuan between Aug 10 and Aug 13, 2018.

In September 2022, the High Court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the murder charge and convicted him of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

During the trial in the High Court, a female child eyewitness testified that she saw Maidin dip the toddler’s fingers and toes in hot water from a rice cooker and had also held the toddler under a running tap, letting the water flow over her head and face.