A FORMER police corporal escaped the gallows and was sentenced to 10 years in jail instead after the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction for murdering his two-year-old stepdaughter Hanis Amanda Mohd Zafil in 2015. 

The panel consisting of Justices Kamaludin Md Said, Hashim Hamzah, and Azman Abdullah substituted his earlier conviction with one for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. 

In the grounds of judgment released on June 6, Justice Azman said after scrutinising the evidence, the court found that the High Court erred in convicting Muhammad Khairuanuar of murder as the prosecution had failed to prove his intention to inflict the bodily injury that caused the death of the child. 

He said the court viewed the prosecution’s evidence as incapable of proving that Muhammad Khairuanuar had knowledge that his act was so imminently dangerous that it must in all probability cause death, or that such bodily injury would likely cause death.

Justice Azman said this was based on the evidence given by a prosecution witness who was staying at the condominium at that time, who testified that he heard the child scream at around 3pm and that she was still alive at about 5.20pm.

He said the witness also saw the child lying down holding a milk bottle in front of the television after that.  

Muhammad Khairuanuar was charged with murdering Hanis Amanda in a condominium unit in Section 5, Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur between 7am and 7.30pm on November 6, 2015. 

He was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in March 2021. He then appealed to the Court of Appeal. 

The child’s biological father and her stepmother had testified that they noticed there were bruises on the child’s body particularly on her ribs and thighs whilst she was in their care between October 17 to 19, 2015. 

Hanis Amanda’s father also gave evidence in court that his child felt pain and said it was “Papa Bi” who caused the bruises. According to him the “Papa Bi” mentioned by his child referred to Muhammad Khairuanuar. 

The child’s parents divorced in 2013 and her mother married Muhammad Khairuanuar. – Bernama, June 8, 2023.