A three-member bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ordered Ja’afar Halid, 44, who had previously worked for politicians Azmin Ali and Nurul Izzah Anwar, to begin his jail term from Dec 1, 2016.
The top judge, who sat with Justices Nordin Hassan and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, also ordered that Ja’afar be given 12 strokes of the rotan for each murder charge.
However, the court reduced the number of strokes he is to receive from 36 to 24, the maximum allowed under Section 288(5) of the Criminal Procedure Code for adult males below 50.
In allowing the prosecution’s appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling handed down last year, the bench agreed that Ja’afar was of sound mind when the murder took place.
The appeals court had ruled that the defence had succeeded in proving the accused was legally insane in accordance with Section 84 of the Penal Code and ordered that he be held at a mental hospital.
Today’s ruling reinstated the murder conviction by the Penang High Court in 2020 but substituted the death sentence with a prison term.
Ja’afar shot and killed Ong, entertainer Choi Hon Ming, and florist Senthil Murugaiah at the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway near the Penang Bridge on Dec 1, 2016.
The Federal Court today also reinstated Ja’afar’s 15-year jail terms for the attempted murder of Dr Arivarni Kershnian, factory workers Lee Hong Boon, Nurul Husa Aziz, RTM videographer Amirul Amin Amir and bank employee Poh Bee Joo with a Glock 19 pistol at the same place and time.
The court ordered that the prison terms for these offences run concurrently with that of the murder charges.
Lawyer Y Anbananthan appeared for Ja’afar, while deputy public prosecutors Fuad Abdul Aziz and Ng Siew Wee represented the prosecution in today’s proceeding.
Bodyguard’s employer responsible, court rules
In a related civil case, the Federal Court had on Oct 18, 2022 affirmed two lower court rulings holding Ja’afar’s employer, GMP Kaisar Security Sdn Bhd, responsible for the shooting of Amirul and the seven others.
Justice Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal said it had been proven that Ja’afar had committed the act in the course of his employment using a Glock automatic pistol supplied by his employer.
In that suit, the High Court awarded RM114,470 in damages to Amirul, who had sued GMP Kaisar for vicarious liability.
According to the evidence introduced in court during the murder trial, Ja’afar had worked as a bodyguard for Azmin in 2008 and 2009, and Nurul Izzah from 2009 to 2010. Neither politician had any connection to his criminal acts.