SHAH ALAM: A 29-year-old businessman initially charged with murdering two teenagers in a fatal 2021 Federal Highway crash was sentenced to nine years' jail today after pleading guilty to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The Shah Alam High Court amended the two murder charges against K. Devaaswin to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304(b) of the Penal Code after the prosecution closed its case.
Devaaswin was initially charged under Section 302 of the same code, which carries the death penalty, over the deaths of Muhammad Hafiz Syamir Dzul Asri, 19, and Nur Afiqah Abdul Karim, 18.
The teenagers were killed when their car was struck by a four-wheel-drive vehicle driven against the flow of traffic by Devaaswin at Km8.6 of the Federal Highway, heading towards Kuala Lumpur from Klang, at 1.50am on Sept 12, 2021.
Lawyer Datuk N. Sivananthan said his client had maintained from the outset that there was no intention or knowledge to cause death.
"At the end of the prosecution's case, the judge agreed with us and reduced the charge.
"My client did not hesitate and was more than happy to plead guilty to the amended charge," he said.
Sivananthan said Devaaswin was relieved by the decision and accepted that he had to be punished for the deaths, but the sentence had to be proportionate to the offence.
High Court judge Datuk Bhupindar Singh Gucharan Singh Preet sentenced Devaaswin to nine years' jail on each charge, with both terms to run concurrently from his arrest on Sept 17, 2021.
He was also fined RM30,000 for each charge, with one year's jail in default of payment for each fine.
Sivananthan said that, after the one-third remission applicable to the sentence, his client would serve six years and had about 10 months left to serve.
He said Devaaswin's family would arrange to pay the RM60,000 in fines and hoped to raise the funds before his release.
Devaaswin, previously held at Sungai Buloh Prison, has been transferred to Kajang Prison, he added.
Sivananthan appeared with Nabila Habib, while deputy public prosecutor Mohd Hafizi Abdul Halim prosecuted.
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