DUO TO BE HANGED AFTER LOSING THEIR FINAL APPEALS

Kota Kinabalu: Two death row prisoners failed in their bid at the
Federal Court here on Monday to reverse the death sentences imposed
on them by the High Court.

Judge Datuk Bentara Istana Nik Hashim Nik Abd Rahman who sat with
Judges Datuk Haji Hashim Datuk Haji Yusof and Datuk Azmel Haji Maamor
unanimously dismissed the appeals by Mohamed Hj Muslimin, 34, and
Basil Omar, 36, respectively.

The judges affirmed the death sentences by hanging imposed by the
High Court which had also been affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

The court made the decisions after hearing submissions from the
assigned counsel for both appelents Ram Singh and Deputy Public
Prosecutors Mangaiarkarasi Krishnan and Samsudin Hassan.

Mohamad was convicted and sentenced to death by Sandakan High Court
on May 3, 1995 for discharging a firearm, a .38 Smith & Wesson
special revolver, with intent to cause death or hurt to one Corporal
Paulinus Sabinus.

The charge is under Section 3 of the Firearms (Increased Penalty) Act
1971 which carries the mandatory death sentence on conviction.

The offence took place on April 16, 1992, at about 7.30pm in front of
Syarikat Emas Yuwang, Mile 21 /2 Jalan Labuk, Sandakan.

His appeal to the Court of Appeal on June 25, 1997 was rejected and
his death sentence affirmed.

Ram had submitted six grounds for the court to consider Mohamad's appeal.

Among others, Ram, pointed out that the prosecution had failed to
prove the intention of his client to cause death or hurt to the policeman.

He said it was only the evidence of Paulinus that Mohamad pointed the
gun at him.

Ram also submitted that the prosecution had failed to call an
'informer' to testify in the trial. A prosecution witness had told
the trial that police was alerted of a robbery in progress at a goldsmith shop.

"Failure or omission by the prosecution to call the informer was
fatal to the prosecution," Ram said.

DPP Mangaiarkarasi submitted, among others, that there were
concurrent findings of facts by the trial court and the Court of Appeal.

"Although there is no written grounds of judgement of the Court of
Appeal, the fact that the Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction and
sentence passed by the High Court, clearly shows that the learned
judges of the Court of Appeal agreed with the findings made by the
learned High Court Judge, " she said.

Meanwhile, in Basil's case, he appealed that the conviction and
sentence to be set aside or alternatively reduced to that of possession only.

Basil was sentenced to death by hanging by the Sandakan High Court on
Sept 26, 1994 for trafficking 1,241gm of cannabis in a taxi in front
of the general market in Sandakan on Jan 31, 1990.

He was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act
which carries a mandatory death sentence.

On June 3, 2002 the Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction and
sentence imposed by the High Court.