Sarawak man sentenced to 30 years in prison for murdering girlfriend over refusal to cook rice

MIRI, Dec 12 — The High Court here sentenced a jobless man to 30 years in jail and 12 strokes of the rotan after he pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend for refusing to cook rice three years ago.

Judge Dean Wayne Daly meted out the sentence to Augustine Laing Lihan, 34, of Long Banyok Baram yesterday after taking into consideration his guilty plea, the facts of the case, the seriousness of the offense, and public interest.

The court ordered the sentence to run from the date of arrest, which was June 5, 2021.

Augustine was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty for murder, or imprisonment of up to 40 years and at least 12 strokes of the rotan if convicted.

According to the facts of the case, on May 30, 2021 around 10.30pm, the victim, Sila Gani, had been taken to Long Lama Health Clinic to be treated for burns on several parts of her body.

While at the clinic, Sila told the attending doctor that her boyfriend had poured diesel fuel on her and set her on fire.

Due to the severity of the burns, she was referred to Miri Hospital for further treatment and was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) on May 31, 2021, before she succumbed to her injuries on June 15, 2021.

Acting on information, police arrested Augustine on June 5, 2021 around 10.30am at Long Lama bazaar to facilitate the investigation.

Based on the investigation, prior to the incident, around 7.45pm on May 30, 2021, in the kitchen of unit number four of Durian Block at Kampung Long Banyok in Baram, Sila and Augustine were arguing after she refused to cook rice as requested by the latter.

In anger, Augustine then splashed diesel fuel on Sila before setting her on fire by throwing a lit cigarette at her, causing her to suffer serious burns on several parts of her body.

A post-mortem conducted by Dr Kunasilan Subramaniam of Miri Hospital on June 18, 2021, confirmed that Sila had died due to severe burn complications.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Fillanny Siji called eight prosecution witnesses to testify in the case before the accused decided to change his plea to guilty yesterday.

The accused was represented by counsel Roland Engan. — The Borneo Post