PUTRAJAYA: An Indian national who bludgeoned his countryman to death with a hammer at an old folks’ home six years ago failed in his final attempt to trim his 35-year prison sentence and 12-stroke whipping order.
A three-member Federal Court bench, chaired by Justice Rhodzariah Bujang, unanimously dismissed 34-year-old K Alagesan’s appeal after finding no extenuating circumstances to justify a lighter punishment.
Joining Rhodzariah on the bench were Justices Ruzimah Ghazali and Nazlan Ghazali.
The assault took place on the morning of Sept 9, 2020 when Alagesan walked into the living room of the home in Petaling Jaya where his victim, Sugan Ganesan, was asleep.
Alagesan, without warning, repeatedly struck Sugan on the head with a hammer in front of an eyewitness before leaving the room.
The care home’s owner alerted the police, who arrived within minutes to arrest Alagesan at the scene. A post-mortem confirmed Sugan died from severe blunt-force trauma to the head.
Alagesan pleaded guilty to the charge at the High Court in 2024, and was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 15 strokes of the rotan, backdated to his arrest on Sept 10, 2020.
The Court of Appeal trimmed his sentence down to 35 years and 12 strokes after his lawyer at the time, Mokhtaruddin Baki, argued that Alagesan’s early guilty plea had saved the court and prosecution valuable time and resources.
However, his attempt to push for a further reduction at the apex court fell flat.
Despite arguments presented by his lawyer, M Saravanan, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
Deputy public prosecutor Iznina Hanim Hashim appeared for the prosecution.
Under Malaysia’s revised sentencing laws enacted in July 2023, judges possess the discretion to issue prison sentences of between 30 and 40 years alongside a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane for male offenders under 50 rather than the mandatory death penalty.
