Kevin Morais murder: Appellate court upholds death sentence for six

The Court of Appeal here today upheld the High Court’s decision to impose the death penalty on six men convicted of murdering deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais nine years ago.

(NST) – The men who were charged are former pathologist, Colonel Dr R Kunaseegaran, 61; moneylender, S Ravi Chandran, 53; and four unemployed individuals, R Dinishwaran, 32; A K Thinesh Kumar, 31; M Vishwanath, 34; and S Nimalan, 31.

The three-judge panel chaired by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, sitting with Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, unanimously decided on the verdict.

On July 10, 2020, all the men were sentenced to death by the High Court after being found guilty of killing Kevin Morais.

They were accused of murdering Kevin Morais, 55, at a location along Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul and Jalan USJ 1/6D, Subang Jaya between 7am and pm on Sept 4, 2015.

A total of 70 prosecution witnesses and 14 defence witnesses, including all the accused, testified in the trial which started on April 6, 2016.

The six then filed their notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal on July 13, three years ago.

In his decision, High Court judge Datuk Azman Abdullah, now a Court of Appeal judge, had held that all the six men had common intention to kill Morais.

He had said the defence failed to raise any reasonable doubt as to the six men’s involvement in the murder.

The deceased was reported missing on the mentioned date and was last seen leaving a condominium driving a Proton Perdana car from Menara Duta, Kuala Lumpur, to his office at the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Putrajaya.

His body was found in a cement-filled drum along Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya, in the same year, on Sept 16.