Whenever one loses their temper, it will cause him/her to do things that they never imagined they would commit and result in devastating consequences.
A Myanmar national was spared the death penalty but was sentenced to jail for 30 years and 12 cane strokes after he was convicted of murdering his fellow countryman over a microphone.
Myanmar man kills friend over microphone
In the incident that took place five years ago, the accused, Aung Zaw Win, was experiencing problems with his microphone during a karaoke session and asked the victim, Myat Zaw Lwin, to borrow him a new microphone.
However, Myat refused to do so, leading to a heated argument between him and Aung.
In the midst of the argument, Myat threw an iron table, hitting Aung on the forehead. Out of rage, Aung took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed Myat several times, reported NST.
A pathologist later revealed that Myat suffered 12 stab wounds, including four fatal ones on the left side of his torso, which punctured his vital organs and severed blood vessels.
Spared of the death penalty
The prosecution informed the court that Aung has admitted to having a short temper and that he had displayed an intention to hurt someone in the fight.
During mitigation, Aung pleaded for another chance, saying that he deeply regretted his actions.
In the end, Aung was sentenced to 30 years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane instead of the death penalty.
In a statement by Judicial Commissioner Noor Hayati Mat, she said the court had the discretion to mete out other penalties aside from the death sentence following recent amendments to Section 302 of the Penal Code and the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.
She also said the decision was made after she took several circumstances into consideration.
“In this case, I have considered the individual circumstances, such as the deceased being the accused’s housemate, a colleague, and a friend.
“The accused held the deceased after the stabbing, indicating remorse and fear. Remorse after awakening from his criminal act is a valid consideration in giving the accused a second chance at life,” she said.
‘Too harsh to hand out death penalty’
Noor Hayati added that Aung wasn’t guilty of premeditated or aggravated murder as he was unable to control his anger at the time.
As such, she believed that the death sentence was “unjustifiable” to be carried out.
“I am of the opinion that it was a spontaneous assault (sufficient to cause death according to the ordinary course of nature) and not a preplanned act.
“Again, that does not mean it is not serious, but the length of the sentence passed is not short, but 30 years of his freedom will be taken away just because he could not control his anger fighting over a microphone.”
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