KUALA LUMPUR: The atmosphere at the High Court here today was sombre after American Mickelson Gerald Wayne was sent to the gallows for murdering his ex-wife two years ago.
A group of people believed to be Wayne’s relatives and friends who were present during the proceeding wept after judge Datuk Azman Abdullah meted out the sentence.
A woman clad in a white shirt was seen wiping Wayne’s tears and hugged him after the proceeding.
The 63-year-old engineering consultant was charged with killing fellow-American Guilda Mickelson, 62, in the room of a hotel at Lingkaran Syed Putra, Brickfields, here between 5am and 11.45am on Nov 26.
Wayne was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code which provides for death by hanging upon conviction.
In his judgement, Azman said the defence failed to cast reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
“The accused failed to provide evidence that the injuries suffered by the deceased (were incurred in) an act of self-defence.
“The (pathology report showed) that the fatal injury… was (incurred through) manual strangulation of the neck.
“Upon a consideration of all the evidence adduced as provided by Section 182A(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, the court found that the prosecution had successfully proven a case beyond reasonable doubt,” he said.
When met after the proceeding, deputy public prosecutor Azeezi Nordin said based on the investigation, a minor scuffle took place between the couple which led to the incident.
“The couple had been married for 30 years, but were still staying together after their divorce.
“During the investigation, the accused said he got into an argument his ex-wife who did not allow him to move to the Philippines.
“In their report, pathologists said that they found a fracture on the deceased’s head due to blunt force trauma.
“The deceased’s hyoid bone (located near the neck) was also broken, which proved that she was manually strangled by the accused,” he said.
Azeezi added that the accused did not run away after the incident – in fact he called the receptionist to ask the police to come to his room.
“The duty manager who rushed to the room was shocked when he saw the deceased lying on a bed and the accused said to him: ‘I killed her’,” he said.