PUTRAJAYA: A former freelance computer technician escaped the gallows today after the Federal Court commuted his death sentence to 38 years in prison for the kidnapping and murder of a glove factory manager whose body was found at a landfill in Sungai Siput, Perak, 17 years ago.
The court's three-judge panel, headed by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, made the decision after granting Yan Wai Seng's application for a review to commute his death sentence to imprisonment under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023.
"The court hereby orders the death sentence imposed on the applicant to be commuted to 38 years in jail, to run concurrently from the date he was arrested (May 1, 2007) for both the murder and kidnapping offences," she said.
Tengku Maimun also sentenced Yan, now 36, to 12 strokes of the cane for murder and five strokes for kidnapping. The other two judges on the bench were Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan.
On Dec 3, 2012, the Ipoh High Court sentenced Yan and another man, Chew Wai Keong, to death after finding them guilty of murdering Teh Wai Toong, 31, at a house in Taman Utama, Ipoh, Perak, between 2:30 pm on April 26, 2007, and 2:30 pm on April 29, 2007.
The duo were also sentenced to death for kidnapping and confining the victim for a ransom of RM200,000 at the same house between 11 pm on April 20, 2007, and 2:30 pm on April 26, 2007.
On April 5, 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and death sentence against the two men for murder and kidnapping, and the Federal Court on Feb 23, 2018, upheld the sentence against Yan. However, Chew's appeal was cancelled by the same court because he had died.
Meanwhile, the bench also commuted the death sentence imposed on businessman Loh Yoon Fatt, 52, to 35 years in jail for murdering a business consultant using a steering wheel lock on Christmas Day 15 years ago.
On Nov 21, 2011, Loh was sentenced to death by the Ipoh High Court for murdering Lam Siew Kong, 59, in the car park of a restaurant at Jalan Sultan Abdul Halim, Ipoh, at 9:20 pm on Dec 25, 2009. The sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
