PUTRAJAYA: A former tow truck driver will hang after he failed in his final appeal for the murder of Arab-Malaysian Bank founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi eight years ago.
A three-member Federal Court bench chaired by Rohana Yusuf also affirmed Koong Swee Kwan’s 18-year jail term for the attempted murder of Najadi’s wife, Cheong Mei Kuen.
The accused, 52, gunned down Najadi at a parking lot of the Kuan Yin Temple near Lorong Ceylon in Kuala Lumpur between 1.30pm and 2pm on July 29, 2013.
Rohana, who sat with Abdul Rahman Sebli and Hasanah Mohammed Hashim, in dismissing Koong’s appeal, said the trial judge had considered his defence.
“We find there is overwhelming evidence of the commission of the crime,” she said.
She said the accused’s defence was bare denial, an afterthought and a concoction.
Rohana said the Court of Appeal which upheld the trial judge’s decision to find Koong guilty of murder and attempted murder, has correctly used a proviso in the Courts of Judicature Act to state the conviction was safe.
Lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said Koong’s final recourse is to seek clemency from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong since the offence took place in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
Lawyers Kee Wei Lon, Low Wei Loke assisted Hisyam while deputy public prosecutor Tetralina Ahmad Fauzin prosecuted.
Koong was initially tried and convicted by the High Court in September 2014 and was sentenced to death for murdering Hussain; and jailed 18 years for attempting to murder Cheong.
However, on Dec 14, 2016, the Federal Court’s five-man bench, chaired by then Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, set aside Koong’s conviction and ordered a retrial on the grounds that the initial trial had been prejudicial to him.- FMT