The court found insufficient evidence of common intention among the accused for murder, leading to the affirmation of one conviction and the reversal of others.

[1] All the four appellants were charged in the High Court at Shah Alam for the offence of murder under s 302 of the Penal Code read together with s 34 of the same Code. They, together with three other persons were alleged to have committed the murder of one Manivanan Vellaysamy (No passport: E2068544) between 9 August 2004 and 10 August 2004 at No 136, Jalan Pandan 1, Pandan Jaya, Ampang Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan.

[2] They were found guilty of the offence as charged, convicted and sentenced to death. Their appeals to the Court of Appeal were dismissed and they now appeal to this Court.

[3] For the purpose of this judgment, the appellant in no 05-315-11/2011(B), that is Mainthan Arumugam will be referred to as the first accused, the appellant in no 05-317-11-2011(B), that is Yuganathan Tharumaputrintar will be referred to as the second accused, the appellant in no 05-314-11-2011(B), that is Adiswaran Tharumaputrintar will be referred to as the third accused and the appellant in no 05-316-11-2011(B), that is A Param Sivam K Alagan will be referred to as the fourth accused.

Case For The Prosecution

[4] Manivanan Vellaysamy was an Indian National holding Indian Passport No: E2068544. At the material time, he worked with Muniandy Nadeson (PW9). Manivanan ran away with PW9's sister-in-law, Jayanthi Vadivelloo. About three weeks after their disappearance PW9 was informed by his friend, S Peter Thomas Savarinayagam, that Manivanan and Jayanthi were seen in a shop in Ampang Tasek or Ampang Campuran.

[5] Upon receiving this information PW9 and the first accused proceeded to the said shop. Both the deceased and Jayanthi were brought back in PW9's motor car. The deceased was dropped at the first accused's house, while Jayanthi was brought back to PW9's house. PW9 came to know about the deceased's death when he was arrested by the police.

[6] PW10, Giva Govindan, testified that in the evening of 9 August 2004 he went to the first accused's house to send a wedding invitation card at Jalan Pandan Jaya, Selangor. He went to the store behind the house. When the door of the store was opened he saw a few persons drinking. Among them were the four accused. At first he said he only saw the bottles of liquor on the floor in the store. After his attention was drawn to his statement under s 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code , he said he saw a male person lying in a room behind the workshop, whose head was bleeding. He also saw the first accused holding a knife and the third accused holding a parang. PW10 also saw the second accused and the fourth accused there.

[7] PW19 (Lai Tai Pin) rented part of the building in Pandan Jaya from the first accused about 1 1/2 years before the month of August 2004 and operated his motorcycle workshop at the premises. According to PW19, the other part of the premises was used by the first accused to keep scrap metal. He stayed there as well as in a house at Peel Road.

[8] On 9 August 2004 at about 8.30pm while he was in his workshop PW19 heard some noises from the first accused's store for about 10 minutes. At about 9.00pm he went out through the backdoor of his workshop to go to the toilet. On his way back from the toilet to his workshop he saw the first accused in his office as the door to the store was then open. He also saw a naked body whose head was smashed and covered with blood lying on the floor. He then went back to his workshop.

[9] According to PW19, about five minutes later the first accused asked him to go to the first accused's st