Elderly man gets 38 years' jail for killing neighbour

IPOH - An elderly man escaped the gallows when the High Court sentenced him to 38 years in prison today after finding him guilty of murdering his 77-year-old neighbour three years ago.

Judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed ordered Mohamad Shaharudin Zakaria, 68, to serve the sentence starting from May 3, 2020, the date of his arrest.

Mohamad Shaharudin was accused of intentionally causing the death of Zaharah Khalid, at a house in Kampung Pasir Panjang Laut, Seri Manjung, Manjung at about 8pm on May 3, 2020, under Section 302 of the Penal Code that carries the death penalty.

"The victim was dragged and thrown into a ditch. The accused intended to kill her. In addition, there were other injuries on the deceased's body as shown by the post-mortem," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Liyana Zawani Mohd Radzi when asking the court to impose an appropriate sentence.

During the proceeding, Hawa Isa, 48, one of the victim’s 12 children spoke about the effect of her mother’s murder on the family especially on her disabled child who was close to her mother.

"After the incident, people accused my mother of unspeakable things...I hope he gets the appropriate punishment for what he did to my mother," she added.

Liyana Zawani asked for the death by hanging punishment despite the Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty Act because of the brutal act committed by the accused.

Mohamad Shaharudin’s counsel M. Saravanan pleaded for the court to reduce the sentence to a prison term due to the accused age so that he ‘can spend the rest of his life in prison in peace’.

A total of 13 prosecution witnesses and one from the defence team were called to testify throughout the proceedings which started in 2021. - BERNAMA