KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): The High Court here on Tuesday (Nov 2) found six students of the National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) guilty of causing the death of the university’s navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain four years ago, and sentenced all six to 18 years in jail.

The six were Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali.

High Court Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah found the six guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and sentenced them under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in jail and a fine.

The judge, who said he did not find the six having the intent to murder, said the prosecution had proved that the accused caused grievous bodily harm to the victim by using a steam iron to hit the latter's sensitive parts.

The judge also did not grant a stay of execution to the six, and ordered them to serve their jail sentences from the date of their arrest in 2017.

In addition, five of the accused, together with 12 other UPNM students, were sentenced to another three years in prison for assaulting the deceased to force him to confess to stealing a laptop.

For this crime, the 12 other UPNM students were granted a stay of execution pending their appeal to the Court of Appeal.

All 17 were charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt for the purpose of extorting information from the victim, read together with Section 34, which states that each of several people committing a crime with a common intention is liable for that Act in the same manner as if it were done by him/her alone.

For the five sentenced to 18 years in jail, they will serve the additional three years concurrently.

Before the judgement was meted out, Zulfarhan's mother Hawa Osman took the stand to read her victim impact statement.

She asked for a sentence for the accused that fits the crime, one that serves as a lesson to all so that such an incident would never be repeated.

The offence was allegedly committed in room 04-10, the accommodation block of the Jebat hostel of UPNM between 4.45am and 5.45am on May 22, 2017.