MICHAEL Garing was executed at Changi Prison in Singapore this morning, the Malaysian High Commission in the city state said today.  

Michael was convicted of murder in 2015 by the Singapore high court, a verdict that was upheld by the appellate court in 2017.

“His remains are expected to arrive at Sibu Airport tomorrow before being brought back to his hometown in Kapit. We are currently assisting Michael’s family members who are here,” a spokesman for the high commission told Bernama.

It is learnt Michael had converted to Islam in prison and has chosen to go by the Muslim name Muhammad Arif Sufi.

On March 20, his parents Ensiring Garman and Garing Kanyan had sent a clemency petition to the president of Singapore asking for Michael’s sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.

“I still do not want to believe despite being told the sentence had been carried out,” said a relative who wished to be unnamed. 

He said the parents were devastated.  

Michael, then 21, was part of a gang involved in a robbery in Kallang Road in May 2010 which led to the death of 41-year-old construction worker, Shanmuganathan Dillidurai.

Three others were severely injured.

Another accused, Tony Imba, was jailed for life with 24 strokes of the cane while Hairee Landak, was sentenced in 2013 to 33 years’ imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.

Donny Meluda, who was on the run for more than six years, was sentenced to 33 years’ imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane in 2018. – Bernama, March 22, 2019.