MALAYSIA. COURT AFFIRMS DEATH PENALTY FOR MAN CONVICTED OF MURDERING BANGLADESHI

March 21, 2005: the Federal Court of Malaysia in Bernama upheld the conviction and death sentence imposed on Francis Antonysamy for murdering a Bangladeshi man in oil palm estate in Temerloh. Francis, 33, had been sentenced to death by the Temerloh High Court for murdering Ali Ahmmed Mohammed Ullah at the Kim Swee Leong oil palm plantation near Kuala Lumpur on August 19, 1994.
Appeal judge Datuk S. Augustine Paul, in reading out the judgment, said the investigation commenced with the discovery of Ali Ahmmed's headless body at the plantation on August 23, 1994. He said the principle witness for the prosecution, M. Meganathan, had told the court that about three to four weeks prior to the incident Francis had told him that to win in the lottery the head of a person was necessary. (Sources: Bernama Daily Malaysian News, 21/03/2005)