A Nigerian national, Alowonle Oluwajuwon Gilbert has been sentenced to death by the High Court in Shah Alam, Malaysia, for the murder of a nurse two years ago, Straits Times reports.
Judge Ab Karim Ab Rahman handed down the sentence to Oluwajuwon, 38, on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, after the prosecution had proven its case against the accused beyond all reasonable doubt.
He however allowed a stay of the sentence pending an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Upon hearing the verdict, Oluwajuwon who was standing inside the dock looked down and burst into tears.
When reading out the sentence, Ab Karim said Oluwajuwon’s defense was a mere denial and an afterthought.
The judge said the testimony by the accused that he left the house of Siti Khairina Mohd Kamarudin, 40, on May 8, 2019, contradicted with footage of a closed-circuit television camera at the Third Avenue Condominium, Cyberjaya, which showed him leaving the premises the following day.
“The accused said he was not with the deceased after 8 pm on May 8 until the next morning. He said he left the condominium unit at 8 pm on that day. The court finds that the accused’s testimony is a mere denial and an afterthought as it is inconsistent with the CCTV recording,” he said.
Ab Karim said the accused also could not provide an explanation why there were bloodstains carrying the DNA of Siti Kharina on his shirt on the morning of May 9, 2019.
The judge added that the defense had never disputed the accused’s clothing during the trial.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Tengku Intan Suraya Tengku Ismail, while Gilbert was represented by lawyer Shafinah Taib.
Oluwajuwon was first brought to court on May 27, 2019, and charged with the murder of Siti Kharina at a condominium unit at Third Avenue Condominium in Cyberjaya between 12.41 am on May 9 and 2.30 pm on May 15, that year.
Siti Kharina, a mother of three was reported to have gone missing on May 8, 2019, after she was last seen at the Serdang Hospital parking lot at 4 pm, that day.
The head nurse was later found dead with slash wounds to her chest, neck, and head at the condominium unit on May 15, the same year.
The victim was believed to have died between four and five days before her body was discovered.