KUCHING: A man who killed a schoolgirl in 1993 has been released today after a Federal Court review panel commuted his natural life sentence to 40 years.
FMT reported that a three-member bench chaired by Justice Zabariah Yusof ordered the man's prison term to start on March 18, 1993, when he was first arrested.
His lawyer said after the revised sentence, the 57-year old was released today, taking into account the one-third remission of his sentence.
The application was filed under the Revision of the Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023.
Originally sentenced to death by the High Court on April 4, 1997, the man's murder conviction and sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal and later by the Federal Court.
On Feb 15, 2016, his death sentence was then commuted to a natural life term.
Following the 2023 Act, the man filed for a review of his sentence to the Federal Court, which allows the courts to substitute a natural life term with a prison term of between 30 and 40 years.
Today, deputy public prosecutor Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim requested for maximum sentence.
"The court must take into account the nature and seriousness of the offence, public interest and also the impact the offences caused to the family members," Yusaini, who was assisted by DPP Fairuz Johari, was quoted as saying.
18-year-old Jong Liu Chin in Sebuku, Bau was murdered between 5.30am and 7am, on March 16, 1993.
A policeman found her headless body in a school uniform with her name tag on it.
A human skull was later found and determined to be of the deceased by a Japanese Professor of forensic odontology and physical anthropology.
There was also evidence of sexual intercourse from the large quantity of sperm deposits in her body.
The accused admitted to murdering the girl and having sexual intercourse with the body.
He also admitted to severing the deceased's head and carrying it away before flaying the skin and throwing it into a forest near Kampung Opar, Bau.