Abdul Hamid Mohamad FCJ:

The respondent (the accused in the High Court and the appellant in the Court of Appeal) was charged as follows:

That you, on the 25th day of November, 1994 at about 9.50 p.m. at Kampung Tutus Hilir, Mukah, in the District of Mukah, in the State of Sarawak, committed murder by causing the death of one Awang Jamli b. Awang Sani (m) and that you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

The trial judge found the respondent guilty of the offence charged, convicted him and sentenced him to death. He appealed to the Court of Appeal which allowed his appeal and reduced the charge to one under s. 304(a) of the Penal Code and sentenced him to 18 years imprisonment from 26 November 1994, ie, the date of arrest. The public prosecutor appealed to this court. We allowed the appeal and confirmed the judgment and sentence of the High Court.

The facts are quite straight forward. On 25 November 1994 about 8pm Sabri bin Jol ("Sabri") and Awang Jamli bin Awang Sani ("the deceased") were in Yong Rang coffee shop. Then Rozlan and Ariffin joined them. Later the respondent (the accused) came to the shop. They all drank alcoholic dr