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SINGAPORE – Just a month after her new job at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, a 27-year-old Malaysian cleaner got into an argument with her supervisor, stabbing her with a pair of lawnmowers and hitting her as she pleaded for mercy.
Ahmad Muin Yaacob then stole the gold from 54-year-old Maimumah Awang, hid her body in a drain and fled across the Causeway to Malaysia, where he pawned the jewelry in part to pay for her wedding in Kelantan two weeks later.
On Wednesday (November 4), Ahmad Muin was sentenced to 18 strokes with the baton and life in prison.
In a courtroom filled with members of Madame Maimumah’s family, the court heard that during the altercation on November 24, 2016, Ahmad Muin was alone with her when he attacked her and drove the blades of the lawnmowers into her chest.
She fell and begged him not to hurt her or kill her. She tried to get up, but he repeatedly hit her head with the lawnmowers. He then pulled his body into a 6ft drain outside, removed the drain covers, pushed it in and closed the covers.
After taking Madame Maimunah’s jewelry and phone, she took a taxi to Woodlands Checkpoint, where she boarded a bus to Johor.
She pawned one of her bracelets for RM1,000 (S $ 330) in Johor before arriving at her home in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan, where she pawned two necklaces and a bracelet for RM7,500.
Ahmad Muin set aside 6,000 ringgit for the dowry and used some money to gamble. He later sold the pawn ticket to another pawn shop for RM 1,054 and used part of the proceeds for his wedding expenses.
He continued with their wedding on December 9, 2016.
Nine days later, he was arrested by the Malaysian police and handed over to the Singapore police the next day at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. He was arrested upon arriving in Singapore that same day.
On Wednesday, Ahmad Muin decided not to testify in his defense.
Judge Aedit Abdullah convicted him on a reduced murder charge under Article 300 (c) of the Penal Code, which carries life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Deputy Prosecutors Kumaresan Gohulabalan and Selene Yap argued that Ahmad Muin should receive 24 strokes of the baton due to the aggravations of the “extent of brutality”, lack of remorse and deliberate step to conceal the body.
However, Ahmad Muin’s lawyers, Johannes Hadi and Eugene Thuraisingam, pleaded for 12 hits citing the lack of premeditation to the attack, which was sparked by a brief discussion in which Madame Maimumah called Ahmad Muin’s family “bodoh” o stupid.
The court heard in mitigation that he is the seventh of 11 children born in a rural kampong. She was offered the cleaning job at the Tanah Merah ferry terminal in October 2016 and just one month on the job, she was told to leave to cut costs.
Hadi also told the court that Ahmad Muin’s wife has divorced him.
Speaking to The Straits Times after the court proceedings, one of Madam Maimumah’s three daughters, Suminah Sukardi, 35, who works as an administrator at a transportation company, said that the initial stage of losing her mother was very hard on the family.
Her sister Norhayati Sukardi, 34, a bakery manager, said that while she expected a bit more severe punishment, she agreed with the result.
She said, “My mom is already resting in peace whatever the sentence. She can’t come back to life.”
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