JOHOR BARU: A former police corporal was sentenced to 40 years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane after the Federal Court set aside his death sentence.
It was a unanimous decision made by a three-member panel comprising Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah.
Muhammad Faizal Salim, 47, was charged with the murder of his pregnant girlfriend in 2015.
The charge read that Faizal murdered Norzielawati Akmar Afandi, 35, between 11pm on April 12, 2015 and 12.30am on April 13, 2015.
He committed the offence at the Hutan Bandar Bukit Cantik recreational park in Mersing.
A post-mortem showed that Norzielawati died of blunt force trauma to the head. Her body also had 47 other injuries.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Tetralina Ahmed Fauzi objected to Faizal's application for a sentence review as the victim had died tragically.
"The victim was six months pregnant. The applicant took two lives.
"The victim had begged not to be beaten, but the applicant ignored it."
Defence lawyer Shah Ibrahim said the applicant did not use extreme cruelty and had intended to seek treatment for the victim.
On May 21, 2018, the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya maintained the death sentence meted out on Faizal.