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2019 MarsdenLR 201
FEDERAL COURT PUTRAJAYA
FONG KONG MENG & ANOR – Appellant
Versus
PP – Respondent
[Criminal Application No: 05(RJ)-4-11-2018(B)]
The court upheld the legality of a conviction under culpable homicide rather than murder, emphasizing the necessity to reevaluate the facts despite the applicants' dissatisfaction with the earlier judgment.
Headnote:This case concerns an application under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court to review a conviction and sentence. The applicants argue a miscarriage of justice occurred when the earlier panel substituted their conviction from murder under Section 302 to culpable homicide under Section 304(a). The Court finds the earlier panel had lawful grounds to convict the applicants under Section 304 and determined the review motion is dismissed as no error was found. The applicants' claims of injustice are unfounded.
| Table of Content |
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| 1. review application for sentence modification under specific circumstances. (Para 1 , 2 , 3) |
| 2. details of case facts and earlier trial outcomes. (Para 4 , 5 , 6) |
| 3. applicants' facts lead to a significant shift in conviction under statutory provisions. (Para 7) |
[1] The applicants made this application under r 137 of the Rules of the Federal 1995 ("r 137") to review and set aside the conviction and sentence under s 304(a) of the Penal Code ("Code") handed down by an earlier panel of the Federal Court on 4 April 2018 ("Earlier Panel"). Alternatively, the applicants are seeking for the case to be reheard before the Federal Court.
[2] The applicants' premise is that the Earlier Panel had caused a miscarriage of justice when they set aside the conviction and sentence under s 302 of the Code and substituted it with a conviction and sentence under s 304(a) of the Code instead of under s 304(b) of the same.
[3] We heard the appeal on 16 May 2019 and reserved judgment. We have carefully reconsidered submissions of respective counsel and we now deliver our decision and grounds.
The Background Facts
[4] The salient facts are these. The applicants were jointly charged for murder under s 302 of the Code before the High Court at Shah Alam for the murder of their maid through long period of abuse, neglect and starvation. They were both convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court.
[5] The applicants subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeal against the conviction which was heard and dismissed by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal maintained both the conviction for murder and the death sentence.
[6] Aggrieved by the Court of Appeal's decision, the applicants appealed to the Federal Court. On 4 April 2018, the Earlier Panel set aside the conviction under s 302 of the Code and substituted it with a conviction under s 304(a) of the Code. The applicants were then sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
[7] This takes us to the present Notice of Motion (the Application) for the review of the said decision made by the Earlier Panel that was heard by us on 16 May 2019.
