PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has commuted the death sentence of a former petty trader to a 35-year jail term for the 2002 murder of his pregnant wife.
A three-member bench chaired by Justice Zabariah Yusof also ordered T Paramasparan, 45, to be given 12 strokes of the cane for killing his wife, S Mageswary, who enraged him after confessing that she was pregnant with another man’s child.
The bench also ordered Paramasparan’s jail term to begin from Oct 29, 2022.
Justices Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais were the other judges who heard the matter which had come before the apex court following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty last year.
Paramasparan’s case was brought up under the Revision of the Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023.
Lawyer T Vijayandran urged the bench to impose a 35-year jail term instead of the death sentence as he said Paramasparan had no intention of murdering his wife when he hit her with a broomstick several times.
“She confessed that she was unfaithful to him and that she was pregnant with another man’s child,” said Vijayandran.
The lawyer said Paramasparan was unaware that the assault on his wife, who was heavily pregnant, could lead to internal bleeding.
After the incident, Paramasparan left the house and went to stay with his brother for the night.
The next day, Paramasparan’s parents, who were informed about the quarrel, went to the house and found the deceased lying motionless on the sofa.
The Federal Court affirmed the death sentence in Paramasparan’s final appeal on March 12, 2012.
He committed the offence at his house in Taman Sri Sentosa, Klang, at about 8.30pm on Oct 28, 2002.
Vijayandran said his client had been in prison for 21 years and five months, and that Mageswary’s father had forgiven Paramasparan.
He also said Paramasparan had submitted a letter to the Pardons Board to ask for clemency. However, the board did not hear the application.
Deputy public prosecutor Fuad Abdul Aziz urged the bench to retain the death sentence or substitute it with a 35-year jail term and 12 strokes of the cane.
Vijayandran told reporters later that Paramasparan could be released in 20 months after taking into account the one-third remission given to prisoners for good behaviour.
Source: freemalaysiatoday.com, V Anbalagan, March 27, 2024
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
