JUDGMENTBY: THOMSON CJ

This appellant was tried before Adams J. and a jury at Johore Bahru for murder in contravention of section 302 of the Penal Code. He was convicted by a unanimous verdict of the jury and sentenced to death. Against that conviction he appealed and on 21st February, 1961, we dismissed his appeal. We intimated that we would state our reasons for doing so at a later stage.

The charge against the appellant was that on 7th September, 1960, at a house at No: 47/3 Jalan Dato Mohd. All, Endau, near Mersing, he murdered one Lim Bong How.

The deceased was employed as a fish packer and lived in a cubicle in the upstairs portion of No: 47/3 Jalan Dato Mohd. All, Endau. Nos: 47/2 and 47/3 are adjoining parts of a row of terraced shophouses in the street in question. Their upper storeys are divided and are reached by different staircases. The downstairs storey which is made up of a hall and a space for fish packing and storage is common to both. To get from the upstairs portion of No: 47/2 to the upstairs portion of No: 47/3 it is necessary to go down the one staircase then go through at least one doorway and then go up the other staircase.

Early in the morning of 7th September the deceased was found dead in the doorway of his cubicle. He had on his body five substantial incised wounds, three in front and two behind. Two of these had penetrated to the heart and one of them to the liver, both organs being badly damaged. All the injuries could have been caused by an axe which was found downstairs and which bore stains of what was found on subsequent examination to be human blood. The condition of the deceaseds cubicle and of a camp-bed which was in it suggested that at least some of the injuries had been caused while the deceased was lying on his back on this bed.

It was the case for the prosecution that having regard to the appalling nature of the injuries they must have been inflicted with the intention of causing death and that these injuries had been inflicted by the appellant.

The appellant was employed by the same wholesale fish monger as was the deceased and lived in a cubicle in the upstairs portion of the premises at No: 47/2 Jalan Dato Mohd. Ali which have already been described. On the night of 6th September the two men were engaged in loading a fish lorry when they had a quarrel over their work as a result of which they almost came to blows and had to be held apart by force. Later they both retired to their sleeping places as did their fellow workers. Just before dawn a man Tan, who was sleeping in the next cubicle to the appellant at No: 47/2, was awakened by the sound of a door being opened or closed downstairs. He went downstairs and then upstairs in No: 47/3 and found the deceased lying dead as has been described. About the same time (both witnesses gave it as 5 a.m.) a man Wong, who also slept upstairs at No: 47/2, heard footsteps coming towards the appellants sleeping place. He looked out and saw that these were the steps of the appellant who was wearing yellow trousers stained with what this witness thought was blood and what on later analysis proved to be human blood. About the same time another witness Ang, who slept next to the deceased at No: 47/3, was awakened just before daybreak by a noise as if something had fallen; something caused his door to open and he saw the dead body of the deceased.

Then one Chia, the employer of the appellant, the deceased and the prosecution witnesses, after describing the quarrel between the two men, said he was called about 5 a.m. by Tan. He went and saw the dead body of the deceased and later he saw the appellant downstairs who was wearing the yellow trousers stained with blood and had a conversation with him. That conversation was of such a nature as to entitle the jury, if they believed the witness account of it, to regard it as an admission on the part of the appellant that he had killed the deceased.

Finally, the appellant was found on medical examinat

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