PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here today upheld the death sentence of a Pakistani gardener who beheaded a prison doctor with a machete whom he claimed had insulted his religion.
A five-member panel chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin dismissed Shafaqat Ali Ghulam Nabi’s final appeal against conviction and death sentence.
Justice Zulkefli said the murder was brutal and disproportionate with the provocation, if any, by the deceased.
Shafaqat, 33, was sentenced to death by the High Court for murdering Harjit Singh a/l Bachan Singh, 51, at his house in Kampung Sungai Padang Sertik, Bentong, Pahang at 8.30pm on Aug 23, 2011.
He resorted to the Federal Court after failing in his appeal at the Court of Appeal.
According to the facts of the case, the deceased was found in front of the house with his head severed from his body.
Shafaqat who was working for the deceased on a plot of land where he grew frangipani trees, had used a two-foot long machete to chop off the deceased’s head.
A friend of the Pakistani’s, Jamsheet Ali had testified that on the night of the incident, upon returning home from work, he saw Shafaqat and the deceased having a conversation outside the house.
He gave evidence that he then joined both men for tea before being asked by Shafaqat to go inside the house.
Jamsheet had testified that 15 minutes later, Shafaqat came to see him in the kitchen and told him that he had beheaded the deceased.
He said Shafaqat told him that he killed the deceased because he could not accept the insult by the deceased whom he said had insulted the Kaabah.
Shafaqat was represented by counsel Kitson Foong while deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin appeared for the prosecution. --Bernama