JUDGMENTBY: THOMSON CJ

This appellant was tried and convicted at the Kedah Assizes on the following charge:--

"That you on the 27th day of May, 1956, at about 7.00 p.m. at Feeder

14, Sanglang, in the District of Kubang Pasu, in the State of Kedah,

committed murder by causing the death of one Inin s/o Endin Kelai and

you thereby committed an offence punishable under section 302 of the

Penal Code."

He appealed against his conviction and we dismissed his appeal. In doing so, however, we intimated that we would give our reasons at a later stage.

The prosecution case was that the appellant Osman, the deceased Inin and a man named Hashim all lived in the same small village on the banks of an irrigation canal. It was throughout treated as a matter of common knowledge that the people here are subject to considerable Siamese influence and that among them "Man" is a common abbreviation of the name "Osman" and "Chin" a common abbreviation of the name "Hashim". There was evidence, which may or may not have been true but which was certainly not directly contradicted, to the effect that on the evening of 27th May at a time which was not clearly established the

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