A BUSINESSWOMAN will have to face 16 years in jail after losing her appeal to have her sentences run concurrently. She pleaded guilty to splashing acid on two other women in 2019.

Shafiqah Izzati Badrul Hisham’s appeal was dismissed by the appellate court, which ruled that the High Court is correct to order her to serve her two eight-year jail sentences consecutively, as there are two separate victims.

The 25-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of splashing acid that caused injuries to her aunt, Rafzaliza Rafli, 36, and her aunt’s friend, Nadia Mohd Khalid, 38, at the sessions court in Putrajaya.

She committed the offences at a house in Jalan Kencana, Taman Kencana Phase 2, Pandan Perdana, Selangor, at 3.30pm on January 29, 2019.

The sessions court sentenced her to eight years’ jail for each charge, but ordered her to serve the sentences concurrently – which meant that she would serve only eight years in jail.

The court also ordered the sentences to start from January 30, 2019, on the day she was arrested by police.

However, the prosecution appealed against the decision to the High Court, which maintained the eight years’ jail sentence for each charge, but ordered Shafiqah Izzati to serve them consecutively.

Shafiqah Izzati then filed an appeal against the new decision to the Court of Appeal, seeking to reinstate the sessions court’s order that she was to serve the jail sentences concurrently.

Both victims suffered injuries to their faces and bodies in the acid attack.

Lawyer Jay Moy Wei Jiun represented Shafiqah Izzati, while deputy public prosecutor Parvin Hameedah Natchiar appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama, February 10, 2022.