A three-man bench, comprising Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court Justices Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Nordin Hassan, also upheld the 12 strokes of the cane imposed on Noraizuwan Hamali, Bernama reported.

Abang Iskandar said it was undisputed that the prosecution’s case against Noraizuwan was premised on circumstantial evidence.

However, he said the court found that Noraizuwan had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

Noraizuwan, 32, was initially convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court in 2022 for killing Rayyan, the son of his then-girlfriend, at a house in Kampung Jejawi, Kangar, between 3.45pm on April 18, 2018, and 12.10am the following day.

In April last year, the appellate court affirmed his conviction but set aside his death sentence and replaced it with the 35-year jail sentence from the date of his arrest on April 19, 2018, and 12 strokes of the cane.

Today, in the Federal Court, Noraizuwan’s lawyer, Burhanudeen Abdul Wahid, argued that a 28-minute gap existed during which the deceased was left alone in the house while Noraizuwan went to pick up the child’s mother from her workplace.

He contended that this created a possibility for someone else to have been responsible for the crime.

Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Roshan Karthi Kayan, who was assisted by DPP Zander Lim, argued that the High Court had already concluded that Noraizuwan’s defence – claiming the child’s fatal injuries were caused by the deceased falling in the playground and bathroom – was unsubstantiated.

He further contended that no one else was in the house between 3.45pm and 11.50pm on the day of the incident, other than Noraizuwan and the deceased.