Death sentence for unemployed man commuted to 40 years in prison for murder of his mother

PUTRAJAYA: An unemployed man escaped the gallows when the appeals court commuted his death sentence to 40 years in prison for the murder of his mother, whose body was discovered in a septic tank six years ago.

The three-judge panel comprising Appeal Judges Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and High Court Judge Datuk Noorin Badaruddin also imposed 12 strokes of the cane on Mohammad Firdaus Ismail.

Allowing Mohammad Firdaus' appeal against his verdict, Judge Ahmad Zaidi said the court had taken into account lawyer Hussaini Abdul Rashid's request for an extension of the prison term as well as the fact that Deputy Public Prosecutor Roshan Karthi Kayan did not seek to uphold the death sentence.

“After examining the facts, the court comes to the conclusion that the appeal is justified.

“The death sentence is therefore replaced by 40 years in prison, starting from September 25, 2018, the day of his arrest, and by 12 blows with the rotan,” said Judge Ahmad Zaidi.

Hussaini had previously informed the court that Mohammad Firdaus was withdrawing his appeal against the conviction but would continue to appeal against the death sentence.

He said that when the Supreme Court sentenced Mohammad Firdaus to death in 2022, the Mandatory Death Penalty Abolition Act, 2023, had not yet come into force.

Mohammad Firdaus, 35, the youngest of five siblings, was found guilty and sentenced to death by the High Court on April 15, 2022 for the murder of his 63-year-old mother, Faridah Mat Hashim, on September 19, 2018, at their home in Balik Pulau, Penang.

Faridah's body was reportedly found in a septic tank behind her house.