Pendakwa Raya v HASHMAT KHAN

Case Significance

Illustrates the exercise of the sentencing discretion on a guilty plea to murder under section 302 of the Penal Code following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty: weighing mitigation and aggravation, the court imposed the statutory alternative of 30 years' imprisonment from the date of arrest and 12 strokes of the cane in place of death.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam, delivered by Judicial Commissioner Roszianayati Ahmad, concerns the sentencing of an accused who pleaded guilty to murder, and the exercise of the sentencing discretion following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty. The case had been fixed for a full trial, but the accused, a foreign national for whom a Pashto interpreter translated the proceedings, indicated through counsel his wish to plead guilty. The charge was one of murder under seksyen 302 Kanun Keseksaan (section 302 of the Penal Code), in respect of a death that occurred at premises in Bandar Rinching, Semenyih, over the period from the night of 25 September 2021 to the morning of 28 September 2021. The court's task, on the guilty plea, was to determine the appropriate sentence, weighing the mitigating and aggravating factors.

The court considered the mitigating and aggravating circumstances and imposed the alternative sentence that Parliament has provided in place of the death penalty for murder. It sentenced the accused to 30 tahun penjara dari tarikh tertuduh ditangkap (30 years' imprisonment from the date of his arrest on 1 October 2021) and 12 kali sebatan (12 strokes of the cane), observing that this represented the minimum term provided by law for the alternative sentence that replaces the death penalty. The court expressed the view that the sentence was adequate and commensurate with the gravity of the offence, that it would give the accused an opportunity to reform, and that its severity would also serve as a deterrent to the wider community. The judgment illustrates how a court, on a guilty plea to murder, exercises the sentencing discretion under the reformed law to impose imprisonment and caning in place of the death penalty, and how it calibrates the term by reference to the statutory minimum and the mitigating and aggravating factors.