Post by : Shakul
The Court of Appeal in Malaysia has affirmed the 30-year prison sentence imposed on a former academic found guilty of murder and gunfire during separate bank heists in Selangor.
A panel of three judges, headed by Justice Datuk Noorin Badaruddin, rejected the prosecution's request for a more severe sentence for the defendant, Chai Kong Wee, also known as Chia Kong Wee.
Prosecutors aimed for either capital punishment or an extended 40-year incarceration for the murder charge. They argued that the term for using a firearm should be enhanced and that these sentences should be consecutive rather than concurrent.
The court decided that the High Court had appropriately exercised its discretion regarding sentencing and found no justification to alter the previous ruling. The judges recognized that imposing consecutive terms might lead to an excessively punitive outcome.
Chai, age 42, had entered a guilty plea in August 2025 for the killing of a 21-year-old security officer, Muhammad Aiman Hakim Md Zakri, during a Puchong bank robbery in March 2022.
He faced further conviction for discharging a firearm in another robbery at a business center in Subang Jaya in September 2020.
The High Court's ruling included a 30-year prison term and 12 strokes of the cane for each conviction, with the sentences to be served concurrently from the date given.
During the proceedings, the prosecution portrayed the murder as meticulously orchestrated and highly serious, while the defense asserted that the accused was already enduring extensive prison terms for previous offenses.
English
