A man who escaped to Indonesia after killing a man had a change of heart and save enough money to return and face possible death sentence.
He was driven by consuming guilt conscience that his buddy was charge for the killing of the old man, while he himself was free at home.
With no peace of mind, the man made a great effort to come back to face the law.
When he first received the news from his brother who was in Miri about the friend being charged for murder in June last year, he wanted to make the trip immediately. However, he had no money to renew his passport.
He had to wait for a few months until November last year to save enough money to renew his passport and came back to Miri, knowing fully well he could possibly be hanged.
When he came back to Miri, he chose to work at his former place with the hope that he would be caught by the police.
He was finally caught by the police on 23 January 2010, exactly a year after the incident.
However, in court yesterday, he faced alternative charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, an offence under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code which if liable to imprisonment sentence not exceeding 30 years.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years jail.
According to the charge, he caused the death of one Jaffar bin Mohammad on 25 January 2009 at 12:30 until 1:30pm at the area of Tamu Ikan Kampung Batu Satu.
According to the facts of the case, the accused Jepri Anggut and his friend by the name of Abdul bin Jahim went to meet Jaffar bin Mohammad (the deceased) at the area of Tamu Ikan, Kampung Tanjung Batu, Jalan Kuala Baram Miri to ask the deceased about one handphone and cash money amounting to RM1,200 belongs to the accused which were missing.
They went there using a motorcycle. When they arrived there, they saw the deceased was sewing a casting net inside a boat. Then, the accused went to approach the deceased and asked about the missing items. Abdul bin Jahirin remained on the motorcycle.
After that, there was a quarrel between the accused and the deceased pertaining to the missing items and later on the deceased alighted from the boat, pick up one piece of plastic pipe and walked toward the accused. Then the deceased hit the accused by using the plastic pipe but the accused managed to grab the plastic pipe from the deceased. During the fight, the accused managed to hit the deceased's head by using the helmet that he was holding. The accused also managed to hit the deceased's body and head by using the plastic pipe grabbed from the deceased. As a result, the deceased fell down on the ground.
After the deceased fell on the ground the accused saw a piece of wood and the accused took the piece of wood and hit the deceased's head several times while the deceased was lying on the ground. When the accused saw the deceased was motionless the accused ran away to Abdul who was sitting on the motorcycle and they left the scene using the motorcycle.
The body of the deceased was later found motionless by Saminan Matyasin at about 1:30pm. The body of the deceased was later brought to Miri Hospital by the police and a post mortem had been conducted by Dr Jamil bin Dolkadir. From the post mortem conducted, the cause of death was due to intercranial haemorrage with a large fracture of skull due to blunt head injury.
