MUAR: A woman escaped the gallows on charges of killing her husband five years ago.
Judicial Commissioner Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud made the decision at the Muar High Court today, after finding that the accused, Nur Hidayah Abdullah, 22, committed the act when she was 17-years-old, effectively an underage at the time.
The accused is defined as a child under the Children Act 2001 and cannot be sentenced to the mandatory punishment, he explained.
The court ordered the accused to be detained in jail.
According to the charge, the accused can appeal to the Pardon's Board and also to the Sultan of Johor to reduce her sentence or shorten her detention.
After hearing the defence counsel's appeal in the proceedings, Awang Armadajaya found that the accused's life was filled with grief and difficulties. He hoped the accused would turnover a new leaf after this.
Prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutors Muhammad Azfar Mahmod and Mustaqim Sukarno while the accused was represented by lawyer Yoong How Kiat.
According to the charge, Nur Hidayah was charged with killing her husband Mohd Firdaus Md Sallehuddin, 28, at a house in Taman Pertama Indah, Sungai Abong, here, at about 1.30pm on Oct 17, 2017.
She was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, which provides for a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.