SHAH ALAM: All he wanted was to be paid for fixing the pipes in two bathrooms.

When the housewife refused to pay the agreed sum of RM100, Lili Ardi Sinaga even offered to reduce his charges to RM50 and then RM20.

Yet she refused. When she threatened to call the police on him and have him deported, Lili Ardi, an Indonesian, slapped the housewife.

He punched and then strangled Khairun Bee Sharif, 55, to death. Yesterday, Lili Ardi was sentenced to 12 years' jail after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

He admitted to committing the offence at Khairun's home at 26, Jalan Seroja 1/1, Seroja Garden, Sungai Buloh Country Resort in Saujana Utama, Jeram between 3.50pm and 6.15pm on Feb 21, 2005.
High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad described Lili Ardi as inhumane as he had denied the wife and a mother of four her right to live.

"Although she had refused to pay you, you had no right to take her life," he told the accused.

Syed Ahmad ordered the jail term to run from the date of his arrest on Feb 22, 2005.

Lili Ardi, 25, was initially charged with murdering Khairun. After eight prosecution witnesses testified, the prosecution reduced the charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and he pleaded guilty.

In mitigation on Wednesday, Lili Ardi's counsel Sebastian Cha Tean An said the victim had on two occasions used his client's services for free.

"But on the day of the incident, Khairun had agreed to pay him RM100 for fixing the pipes in two bathrooms," he said.

"He has a fiancee back in his home country and they are planning to get married."

DPP Md Azar Irwan Moh. Arifin pressed for a heavy sentence as an innocent life was lost as a result of the accused's actions.