Winning the lottery is a dream that everyone would want to fulfil, and some would go to great lengths to ensure it becomes a reality.
A man’s wish of snagging a winning lottery ticket number led him to commit an act of murder against his colleague, where he loped off his head as part of a “ritual” 30 years ago.
Man cuts off colleague’s head to win lottery ticket
FMT reported that the accused, A. Francis, who was 23-years-old at the time, committed the bloody act at the Kim Swee Leong oil palm plantation situated along the Kuala Lumpur-Kuantan-Mentakab trunk road between 9pm and 11pm on Aug 19, 1994.
According to the facts of the case, he cut off the head of his Bangladeshi colleague Ali Ahammed Ullah at the advice of a bomoh who claimed it was part of a ritual to win the lottery ticket.
Before the murder, Francis caused Ali to be intoxicated and struck his neck twice with a parang when he lost consciousness.
Given the death sentence
On Oct 21, 1996, Francis was found guilty and sentenced to death by the Temerloh High Court and the verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal on Sept 18, 2002.
Francis tried to overturn his sentence and conviction but failed when the Federal Court heard his case on March 21, 2005.
Commuted to 35 years in jail
However, Francis had his death sentence commuted to 35 years in jail after a three-member review panel of the Federal Court led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat allowed him to file an application under the Revision of the Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023.
This comes as judges are now given the discretion to either mete out the death sentence or imprisonment of up to 40 years for murder.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) How May Ling objected to Francis’ application and urged for his death sentence to stay, adding that he committed the murder to fulfil his personal desires.
The act was gruesome, brutal and savage and was in a different league compared to other murder cases.”
However, Francis’ lawyer Abdul Rashid Ismail argued that his client didn’t commit an act of terrorism and that the crime only affected one person.
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