The Court of Appeal has upheld the 20-year jail term imposed on a Bangladeshi man for culpable homicide not amounting to the murder of his wife whose body was chopped into six parts and stuffed into two suitcases five years ago.
Md Shahzada Saju’s appeal for a lower prison term was dismissed on Friday (Oct 6) by a three-member panel comprising Justices Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and SM Komathy Suppiah.
In delivering the decision, Justice Vazeer said the 20-year jail sentence was appropriate based on the circumstances of the case where the killing was done in a gruesome manner.
He also said the High Court had not committed any error in imposing the 20-year jail term and the appellate court did not want to disturb the sentence.
Md Shahzada, 42, a former waiter, was initially charged on Aug 7, 2018, with murdering Sajeda-E Bulbul, 29, also a Bangladeshi, in an unnumbered room in Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah in Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur, between 4.15am on July 3 and 3.16am on July 5, 2018.
Acting on information, police inspected the scene and found two pieces of luggage containing dismembered body parts of the woman by the riverbank of Sungai Gombak near Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur.
A post-mortem was conducted and confirmed that the woman’s death was caused by an incised wound to the neck with decapitation. The police arrested Md Shahzada in Pengerang, Johor on July 25, 2018.
On May 26 last year, the High Court reduced Md Shahzada’s murder charge to the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder at the end of the prosecution’s case.
He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to 20 years in jail. He, however, appealed to the Court of Appeal to reduce his jail term.
The man was represented by lawyers Vijey Esvaren and M. Meera, while Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Fuad Abdul Aziz acted for the prosecution.