TWO friends were sentenced to five years in jail by the Ipoh High Court today for causing the death of a man three years ago.

Judge Bhupindar Singh Gurcharan Singh Preet meted out the sentence on Muhammad Iman Divaharan Abdullah, 44, and G.S. Suria Sekaran, 27, after they pleaded guilty to an alternative charge.

He ordered for the sentence to begin from the day of their arrest on March 8, 2020.

The duo were charged with causing the death of Ling Hua Chai, 47, without intention in front of Huang Cheng KTV, Persiaran PM 2/5, Pusat Bandar Manjung, between 11.30pm on March 7, 2020 and 12.20am on March 8, 2020.

The charge was framed under section 304 (b) of the penal code and read together with section 34 of the same act, which provides for imprisonment for up to 10 years or with a fine or both, upon conviction.

Deputy public prosecutors Khazrin Haffiz Khalil and Nasrul Hadi Abdul Ghani prosecuted while both the accused were represented by lawyers Tun Mohamad Ammar Aziz and Charan Singh Kartar Singh.

Earlier, Tun Ammar, representing Suria Sekaran, a parking attendant, appealed for a lighter sentence on the grounds that it was his client’s first case.

Charan Singh, who represented Iman, said his client, a security guard, has to take care of his ailing mother, his wife and their four children who are still in school, adding that his client had saved the court’s time by pleading guilty.

However, Khazrin said both the accused’s guilty pleas did not qualify them to get a reduced sentence as the case involved public interest.

According to the facts of the case, a fight broke out between the accused, the victim and several others when Iman parked his car at the parking lot entrance in front of Huang Cheng KTV.

In the fight, Suria Sekaran had caused the victim to be critically injured using a knife, and he later died at Seri Manjung Hospital at 12.43pm on March 9, 2020. – Bernama, May 9, 2023.