Arifin Zakaria CJ:

Background

[1] The appellant was charged in the High Court at Seremban for the offence of murder under s 302 of the Penal Code. The charge reads as follows:

Bahawa kamu pada 17 May 1998, di antara jam 6.50 pagi hingga jam 10.00 pagi, dikedai runcit No 156, Lorong 4, Kampong Gatco, Air Hitam, di dalam Daerah Jempol, di dalam Negeri, Negeri Sembilan telah melakukan pembunuhan dengan menyebabkan kematian Soosaimmah a/p Arokiasamy, K/p: 660301-05-5456 dan dengan itu melakukan satu kesalahan yang boleh dihukum di bawah s 302 Kanun Keseksaan.

[2] On 8 November 2001 she was found guilty of the offence as charged and was convicted and sentenced to death. Her appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed on 16 February 2008 and she now appeals to this Court.

Brief Facts

[3] On the fateful day Gabrial a/l S Raju (SP7), the husband of the deceased, had left his house for the market at around 7am. He returned home at about 10am and found his child crying. He was told that the deceased had left the house since morning and had not returned. He then brought the child to their sundry shop located about 50 meters from his house. He found that the shop was unlocked. Upon entering the shop he found the deceased sprawled on the floor covered in blood. He then called the police. In the meantime he conducted a check in the shop and found that a sum of RM500-RM600 he had kept in the drawer of the cashier's counter missing. He also found the deceased's chain missing which he had seen her wearing before he left for the market that very morning.

[4] The Investigating Officer of the case, Chief Inspector Yong Soun Lian (SP13), arrived at the scene at about 11.20am. He said that he found the deceased's body lying on the floor near the cashier's counter It was covered with blood and smelt of formic acid. He recovered an empty formic acid bottle from the vegetable rack and a blood stained knife. He also recovered a broken stool. SP13 also found an identity card belonging to one Shamsuri bin Hashim (SP6) on the cashier's counter PW6 was subsequently arrested and later released as the investigation revealed that he was not involved in the commission of the crime. Upon examination of the body of the deceased, SP13 found a slash wound on her neck.

[5] The post-mortem conducted by Dr Zahari b Noor (SP9), a forensic pathologist, on the deceased disclosed that she had numerous injuries including scalding on the head, face, chest and hands. The cause of death according to SP9 was a slash wound at the right side of the neck which severed off the sterna mastoid muscle and carotid artery vein, causing massive bleeding. SP9 also testified that the knife (P19B) recovered from the scene could have caused the injury. He also stated that the deceased had some defensive wounds. The scalding, according to SP9, was due to the deceased coming into contact with acid.

[6] The appellant was arrested on 18 May 1998. Scalding marks were detected on the appellant and she was later examined by Dr Sandra Krishnan (SP14) on the same day and SP14 was of the opinion that the scalding marks found on the appellant were caused by the appellant coming into contact with acid and the injuries were one or two days old.

[7] The appellant's husband Durairaj a/l Kolandaveloo (SP10) gave evidence for the prosecution. He stated that at the material time he was living with the appellant and their children at house No 130, Jalan 5, Kg Gatco. They both worked as rubber tappers. On the day in question he said he left the house to tap rubber at about 5.30am. The appellant did not go with him. She came later at between 6.30am and 7.30am on a Yamaha motor cycle bearing registration No ND 2480. She left the rubber plantation at about 9.30am saying that she was not well.

[8] While she was in police custody she gave information to the police which led to the recovery of the gold chain (P40) and lockets (P44A-F) in a cupboard of her house. The cupboard was locked and was opened by the appellant