On Tuesday (23 July), the Malaysian Court of Appeal ruled that the brutal murder case of 21-year-old Navy Cadet Officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain represents one of the rarest and most extreme forms of cruelty and that such crimes will not be tolerated.
Source: Astro Awani
The gruesome murder occurred in 2017, and after seven agonising years of waiting, the victim’s family can finally find some peace.
Justice was served as the court imposed the death penalty on six former students of Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
The horrifying murder, which shocked the nation seven years ago, all started with a missing laptop.
A shaman was summoned to identify who stole the laptop, and Zulfarhan’s name was mentioned.
On 13 May 2017, Zulfarhan was confronted by a group of people at the Jebat Building of UPNM’s hostel, suspected of stealing the device.
When he denied it, he was beaten for the first time.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
About a week later on 21 May 2017, he was called to room 4-10 at Jebat Building again to be questioned about the missing laptop.
When he denied the accusations, he was mass beaten by a group of 20 to 30 students.
The students tortured Zulfarhan with a steam iron, pressing and dragging it along his limbs and torso while his hands and feet were tied.
They also used a belt, rubber hose, and hanger to further torture him.
Two of Zulfarhan’s batchmates drove him to the clinic a week later on 27 May after seeing his weak condition.
They took him to the clinic again on 31 May when his condition persisted.
On 1 June, 11 days after the initial attack, Zulfarhan was finally taken to the hospital.
Despite two attempts to revive him, he was pronounced dead at 9.10pm.
Zulkarnain Idros, the victim’s father, asserted that his son would be alive if not for the bomoh — the Malay word for shaman — who claimed his son stole the laptop.
Free Malaysia Today reported in 2021 that Zulkarnain stated his son is dead solely due to the shaman’s baseless accusations.
“My son is a victim of the shaman’s slander,” he said.
The shaman had no evidence, just wild guesses, merely looking at the bowl or whatever he does. There is no evidence that my son’s name came up.
Source: Gambar Bernama on Free Malaysia Today
The shaman, Abdullah Md Seh, who is also the father of one of the assailants, told the court that he had received “indications” that Zulfarhan had stolen a laptop.
Abdullah added that the “clue” was obtained through his intuition and seeing the victim’s name appear in a vision.
It is worth noting that using a shaman’s services is against the teachings of Islam.
Zulkarnain stated: “I do not agree with using a bomoh. Islam says it can cause division, hostility, and even death. Just like this.”
Hawa Osman, Zulfarhan’s mother, told Astro Awani that the initial viewing was tense and unbelievably painful.
They were only shown his face when they were brought in to identify him.
“We asked to see our son’s entire body,” she said.
According to an autopsy report, 80% of Zulfarhan’s body was covered in burns.
“I have no words to describe how it felt to see our son in that state,” Zulkarnain said. “I had no more tears left. It’s particularly heartbreaking for his mother. She gave birth to a perfect, healthy baby boy.”
“I couldn’t stop asking myself: why do we have to bury him like this? What happened?” he continued.
Source: Karim Raslan
Zulfarhan was a third-year electrical engineering student, who dreamt of captaining ships one day.
“I can accept that my son has died, but I can’t accept the way he died,” his mother said in grief.
On 23 July 2024, Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail, leading a three-judge panel, delivered a 93-page judgment over three hours.
She stated that no parent could fail to feel disappointment, anger, sadness, and grief upon receiving their child’s body in such a tragic condition.
The court agreed with the prosecution that the manner of the murder “shocked not only the judicial conscience but even the collective conscience of society”.
Justice Hadhariah highlighted that the victim was innocent and the actions of the six accused were extremely sadistic.
“Despite seeing the victim writhing in pain, the six accused ignored his suffering and continued pressing the iron against his entire body, resulting in 90 burns,” she said.
She further noted that all accused concealed the victim after torturing him to prevent their crime from being discovered and ignored the clinic doctor’s advice to take him to a hospital.
The clinic had given the victim and the two batchmates who took him two hospital referrals, but the six accused halted them, blaming the victim.
Source: Harapan Daily
Six former students of UPNM, all now aged 28, who were directly involved in burning, planning, and torturing Zulfarhan, were given death sentences for their heinous crime.
Their names are:
Additionally, twelve former students of UPNM were given four years of imprisonment for injuring Zulfarhan, overturning their previous three-year prison sentences.
Upon hearing the final sentences of their late son’s assailants and murderers, Zulfarhan’s parents performed the sujud syukur, or prostration of gratitude.
Source: Bernama
Zulkarnain expressed that he and his wife were grateful that their prayers for the death penalty had been answered.
He also thanked the Malaysian public for their support throughout the case and the prosecution for proving the intent to kill.
Also read: River Valley High murder: Teenager who killed schoolmate appeals for lower jail term
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Featured image adapted from Harian Metro and Bernama via The Edge Malaysia.
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