SHAH ALAM: A man who drove against traffic and killed two teenagers in a 2021 Federal Highway crash was sentenced to nine years' jail today after the High Court here reduced his murder charges to culpable homicide.
Justice Bhupinder Singh said the prosecution, which called 14 witnesses, had not proven the ingredients of murder against K Devaaswin, 29.
Bhupinder amended the charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304(b) of the Penal Code, to which Devaaswin pleaded guilty.
The court also imposed a fine of RM30,000 for each death, bringing the total to RM60,000. The jail terms are to run concurrently from the date of his arrest.
Devaaswin was charged in September 2021 with the murder of Hafiz Syamir Dzul Asri, 19, and Nur Afiqah Abdul Karim, 18.
The teenagers died when the car they were travelling in was hit by a pickup truck driven against traffic at Km8.6 of the Federal Highway at about 1.50am on Sept 12, 2021.
The prosecution initially charged Devaaswin with murder under Section 302, an offence carrying the death penalty or imprisonment of 30 to 40 years under the current law, with whipping prescribed in the circumstances set out by statute.
His lawyers, N Sivananthan and Nabila Habib, welcomed the court’s finding that the prosecution had not established the offence of murder.
They said the decision was significant in distinguishing murder from culpable homicide, particularly in determining the mental element required when fatalities arise from alleged drink-driving incidents.
The lawyers described it as the first case of its kind in Malaysia to be decided by the High Court after a full trial involving a murder charge arising from an alleged drink-driving incident that resulted in deaths.
The defence also expressed sympathy for the families of the two teenagers.
Deputy public prosecutor Hafizi Abdul Halim appeared for the prosecution.