A three-member bench, chaired by Justice Ruzima Ghazali, said the appeals by S Angela Dewi, 48, and her brother S Vijaya, 44, had no merit having regard to the evidence of witnesses.

“The murder conviction is safe and we affirm the findings,” he said in a brief oral ruling.

Also on the panel hearing the appeal were Justices Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Noorin Badaruddin.

However, the bench substituted the death penalty imposed by the High Court last September with a custodial sentence.

Angela was ordered to begin her jail term on Oct 10, 2020 and Vijaya from Oct 17, 2020.

However, Vijaya was also ordered to be given a minimum 10 strokes of the rotan as he is below 50 years of age. Women are spared the punishment of whipping.

Both have the opportunity to bring a final appeal to the Federal Court.

Earlier, lawyer M Manoharan urged the court to impose a 30-year jail term, saying this was not a “rarest of rare” case for the death penalty to be maintained.

“Moreover, the trial judge did not detail in his judgment why he imposed capital punishment,” he added.

Deputy public prosecutor Tetralina Ahmed Fauzi urged the court to maintain the death penalty.

“In the alternative, we are proposing that the appellants serve a jail term of between 33 and 35 years since the court has the discretion to impose a custodial sentence,” she said.

Jail terms for murder range between 30 and 40 years.

The duo committed the offence on R Devarajoo, 59, at a house in the PKNS low-cost housing area in Kampung Baru Sungai Chua in Kajang between noon and 1pm on Oct 1, 2020.

It was reported that Angela had told police there had been a robbery at her home and that her husband, who ran a transportation and scrap metal business, had been hit on the head.

Police were quoted as saying their investigations revealed the incident may have been linked to inheritance of assets.