PUTRAJAYA: An Indonesian man convicted of murdering his girlfriend, whose decomposed body was found in a suitcase, was spared the gallows after the Federal Court here today (January 10) commuted his death sentence to 35 years in jail.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Federal Court Judges Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil dismissed Ermiadi's appeal against his conviction after ruling that his conviction for the murder offence was safe.
Justice Tengku Maimun, however, set aside the death sentence imposed on Ermiadi by the High Court and substituted it with 35 years in jail, to be served from his date of arrest on October 17, 2017.
She also ordered Ermiadi, who used to work at an online gambling shop, to be given 12 strokes of the rotan.
Ermiadi, 32, was found guilty and sentenced to death by the High Court on August 8, 2019, for killing Indonesian national Romsari Sitanggang, who was in her early 20's, at a shophouse in Jalan Maxwell, Pekan Rawang, Selangor, between 6.46am and 8am on October 12, 2017.
His appeal at the Court of Appeal was dismissed on July 19, 2022.
According to the facts of the case, Ermiadi brought Romsari to the shophouse where he was staying in one of the rooms.
The two of them and one of Ermiadi's co-workers spent the evening together and they also had dinner together. After dinner, his colleague left, leaving Ermiadi and Romsari at the premise.
Two days later, a restaurant supervisor, who was renting a room at the online gambling shop, complained about a foul smell at the premise to Ermiadi, who said there was a dead rat in his room.
The restaurant supervisor then opened Ermiadi's room and saw blood stains and something covered with a blanket on the floor.
The supervisor then lodged a police report and when police came to the scene, they recovered the decomposed female body in a black suitcase in Ermiadi's room.
Police also recovered CCTV footage at the premises which showed a man strangling a woman. The man then carried the woman into his room.
Ermiadi was arrested a few days later and he led police to the discovery of a wire cable that was used to strangle the woman.
Ermiadi was represented by lawyer Gooi Soon Seng, while deputy public prosecutor Ng Siew Wee appeared for the prosecution. — Bernama