From Malaysian Insider
By Debra Chong
SHAH ALAM, April 9 — Policemen Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were today sentenced to death by the High Court for murdering Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu, ending one of the longest trials in Malaysian history.
Azilah, 33, and Sirul, 37, were found guilty of killing Altantuya, 28, and then blowing up her body in a jungle clearing at nearby Bukit Raja between 10pm on Oct 19, 2006 and 1am the next day.
The two members of the Bukit Aman Special Action Squad (UTK) were charged under Section 149 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
In pronouncing judgment, High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin noted that both Azilah and Sirul had, separately and together, failed to defend themselves “beyond reasonable doubt” against the charge.
“I find the defence had essentially been one where each of them is blaming each other and one of denial,” he said.
“As such the defence has been both irreconcilable and unbelievable, thus they had failed to raise any reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case which I find to be irresistibly conclusive on account of the physical and circumstantial evidence adduced before me,” Mohd Zaki added.
Read the rest of the report here.
