SHAH ALAM, May 23- The High Court today found guilty all the four accused in the murder of cosmetics millionairess Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya (photo) and three others three years ago, and sentenced them to death by hanging.
Judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir said he was satisfied that the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case against former lawyer N. Pathmanabhan and his three farm workers, T. Thilaiyalagan, R. Matan and R. Kathavarayan.
Pathmanabhan, 43, Thilaiyalagan, 21, Matan, 22, and Kathavarayan, 33, were charged with the murder of Sosilawati, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44, at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat, in Banting between 8.30 pm and 9.45 pm on Aug 30, 2010.
They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read with Section 34 of the same code, which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Ishak Mohd Yusoff, Saiful Edris Zainuddin and Idham Abd Ghani appeared for the prosecution while Pathmanabhan was represented by counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon and Pushpa Ratnam; Thilaiyalagan, by Gurbachan Singh; Matan, by Amer Hamzah Arshad and Kathavarayan, by Hasshahari Johari Mawi.
– BERNAMA
