PUTRAJAYA: A former barber who was convicted of the murder an 11-month-old child nicknamed "Baby Zara", whom his wife had babysat, had his death sentence upheld by the Federal Court today.
The post-mortem examination results of the victim revealed she had suffered severe vaginal injuries that doctors had to stitch to stop the bleeding, apart from sexual, anal and brain injuries.
At that time, Baby Zara had only weighed 8.26kg and none of her teeth had grown yet.
A three-judge panel made the unanimous decision to reject 42-year-old Hazmi Majid's final appeal against the conviction and sentence.
Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, who sat with Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, found that the conviction and death sentence of the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 20,2021 and affirmed by the Court of Appeal on March 1 last year, was safe as the crime was heinous.
Hazmi was charged with the murder of Baby Zara between 10.30am and 1.30pm at an apartment unit in Bandar Baru Bangi on Nov 7, 2018.
Defence lawyer T. Vijayandran, who stood for Hazmi as the appellant, said his client was not aware of his actions as he was under the influence of drugs.
He had asked for a jail term of 30 to 35 years if the court decided to set aside the death sentence.
However, deputy public prosecutor Tetralina Ahmed Fauzi said Hazmi's appeal must be rejected.
She said claims that he was under the influence of drugs cannot be accepted as his actions in disposing of evidence by washing a towel to get rid of blood showed he was aware of his moves.
Tetralina described the case as the "rarest of the rare" and warranted the death sentence being upheld.
"The victim was sent to the babysitter's home at 6.45am on the day of the incident but she was in a critical condition, with serious injuries to her head at 1.30pm," she said.
She added that Hazmi had never helped his wife with babysitting duties but on that day, he had offered to bathe Baby Zara.
On Nov 23,2018, Hazmi was charged at the Kajang magistrate's court with the murder of Baby Zara.
On Nov 28, 2018, the Kajang Sessions Court sentenced him to 20 years' jail and 12 strokes of the rotan after he pleaded guilty to two counts of inserting his finger into the baby's private parts.
For each count, Hazmi was sentenced to 20 years jail and six strokes of the rotan, but the court ordered for the sentence to run concurrently from the date of arrest on Nov 13.
The then Tengku Mahkota Johor, who is now Regent of Johor, His Highness Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim and his wife, Her Highness Che' Puan Mahkota Khaleeda Bustamam, had expressed grief over the baby's death, describing it as heartbreaking and emotionally disturbing.