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Contractor and ex-wife sentenced to 34 years for killing domestic helper in Penampang, cruelty revealed in court
KOTA KINABALU, June 20 — A contractor and his former wife were each sentenced to 34 years in prison by the High Court here on Friday after being found guilty of murdering their domestic helper in December 2021.
Judge Datuk Dr Lim Hock Leng delivered the verdict against Mohammad Ambree Yunos @ Unos, 44, and Etiqah Siti Noorashikeen Mohd Sulong, 37, who were convicted of the murder of 28-year-old Nur Afiyah Daeng Damin.
The offence took place over several days, between December 8 and 11, 2021, in a condominium unit at Amber Tower, Lido Avenue in Penampang, near here.
Ambree was also sentenced to receive 12 strokes of the cane, while Etiqah, an engineer with Petronas and a former Masterchef Malaysia finalist, was spared caning due to her gender provisions.
In the judgement, the judge said that the prosecution proved that the couple had acted with intent in causing the injuries and that the deceased succumbed to the injuries. He also noted that the ex-spouses had tried to blame each other for the death during the course of the trial.
In passing judgement, Lim said that although both lawyers had put up impassioned mitigation pleas, he could not ignore the cruelty suffered by the deceased at the hands of the accused, as highlighted by the prosecution.
'The court considered the nature of the injuries and the manner in which they were inflicted over time,' he said.
Both had been out on bail throughout the trial but were ordered to begin serving their sentences immediately upon conviction.
During the trial, it was revealed that the victim had been subjected to prolonged abuse, resulting in fatal injuries, with evidence of trauma to her face and deputy public prosecutor Dacia Jane Romanus urged the court to impose the death sentence.
She argued that the case had shocked not only the conscience of Sabahans, but of the nation as a whole, and for that reason, must be met with the full weight of the law.
She said that the victim had sought honest work with the couple during the pandemic but was instead subjected to daily torment, denied basic rights, and robbed of her life.
Dacia said evidence before the court, including videos and images recovered from the accused's phones, stood as disturbing documentation of the deceased's torment.
'This evidence not only corroborated the abuse but also revealed the accused persons' chilling intent to record and preserve her suffering.
'We wish to remind the court that in this case, the condition of the deceased's body was so severely deteriorated that her husband was only able to identify her by the bangle she wore on her wrist, a silent witness to the life she once lived and the violence she endured,' she said.
The couple were jointly charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, read together with Section 34, which deals with common intention. The charge carries a prison term ranging from 30 to 40 years and a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane.
Datuk Ram Singh represented Ambree while Datuk Rakhbir Singh represented Etiqah.
