UPDATED 6.45pm
BANTING: Two men were today sentenced to seven years' jail each for burning the bodies of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and her three associates and for disposing of their ashes.
Magistrate Hurman Hussein meted out the sentence after odd-job worker U. Suresh, 19, and mechanic K. Sarawanan, 26, both pleaded guilty at the Telok Datok Magistrate's Court this morning to four counts each, under Section 201 of the Penal Code, of disposing of evidence in regards to the four murders so as to prevent the capture of the four accused of the murders.
The charge was read to the both in Tamil.
Suresh pleaded guilty to throwing the ashes into Sungai Panchau, located in Morib, on Aug 31, between 8am and 10am while Sarawanan admitted to burning the bodies, with both having knowledge the murders had been committed on Aug 30, between 8.30pm and 9.45pm.
In the facts of the case presented to the court, Sarawanan acknowledged that on Aug 30 between 8.30pm and 9.45 pm at Lot No. 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat near here, he saw all four victims had been murdered and he was instructed to retrieve petrol and diesel from a farm worker's house.
He, together with two other farm workers, placed the four bodies on piles of wood which had already been laid out at the scene, after which the trio covered the bodies with more wood.
The court was told that petrol was poured over the bodies before Sarawanan and the farm workers burnt them.
Meanwhile, it was also stated that Suresh saw the same farm workers who had been with Sarawanan, placing something in a blue barrel near the burn site and when he (Suresh) inquired, he was told it was the ashes of the four deceased which they had murdered the night earlier.
The barrel was then taken to Sungai Panchau in a four-wheel drive vehicle for the ashes to be disposed of.
Suresh and one of the farm workers were instructed to throw the ashes into the river together with the barrel. After completing the task at around 10am, they returned to clean up the burn site by disposing all of the remaining wood and zinc there.
The wood pieces were thrown at a dumping ground in Sungai Arak in Kampung Kelanang while the zinc pieces were thrown into the river there.
For their offences, Hurman sentenced each of the accused to seven years imprisonment for each of the four counts but ordered the sentences to run concurrently from the date of their arrest.
In delivering his sentence, the magistrate said he came to such a decision, not because it is a case involving a high-profile individual, but based on the nature of the acts and the impact caused.
"Although they did not commit the murder, they disposed the evidence and covered up the act, which is implied under Section 302," he said.
He said he had taken into consideration the background of the case where there was no evidence to show that the two farm workers were involved in the actual killings.
Earlier, in his mitigation to the court, Sarawanan's counsel Roslie Sulle said his client was only a mechanic in a motorcycle shop who earns RM800 monthly, and that he is his family's sole breadwinner.
"He is the youngest of four siblings, his elder brother has died, his two elder sisters are married in Ipoh, his father is sickly and his mother is a housewife," said Roslie.
Suresh's counsel Muhammad Naguib Abul Malik, told the court that his client was an odd-job worker with an average monthly income of only RM700.
Suresh also has one younger sister who will be getting married next year. His father died in 1997 and his mother is a diabetic.
After the sentencing, Sarawanan and Suresh apologized to the court for their actions from the dock.
Prosecution for this case comprised deputy public prosecutors Saiful Edris, Ishak Mohd Yusoff and Idham Abd Ghani, while counsel Muhammad Naguib, Roslie and M. Puravelan represented the two accused.
Last Wednesday, lawyer N. Pathmanabhan, 41, and three farm workers — T. Thilaiyalagan,19, R. Matan, 20 and R. Kathavarayan, 30 — were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code with murdering the four on Aug 30 between 8.30pm to 9.45pm at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting, Kuala Langat.
Meanwhile, three other suspects in the gruesome multiple murders, a woman and two men, were released on police bail. One of the two men released was believed to be the accused Pathmanabhan's brother.
The deceased had been reported missing on Aug 30 after going to Banting to discuss a land purchase deal.
Sosilawati, founder of Nouvelle Visages (NV) cosmetics line and former wife of rocker Nash, had told one of her daughters that she was going to Banting for three days and was said to be carrying a large amount of cash.
During investigations, police stated the victims were bludgeoned to death, set ablaze and had their ashes, including small bone fragments, scattered in a river near Ladang Gadong in Tanjong Sepat, near Banting.
The lawyer accused and his brother, also a lawyer, were apparently acting as brokers for Sosilawati in the purchase of land in Penang worth millions of ringgit.
The two lawyer brothers are also reportedly being investigated over the disappearance of several individuals — Indian businessman A.K. Muthuraja, 34, Sg Petani businessman Mohd Shafik Abdullah, 37, S.Thevaraj, 28, and A. Anpalagan, 43, as well as over the murder of housewife T. Selvi, 44.
It had further been reported that several police reports had been lodged against the two lawyer brothers since 2005 over allegations of commercial crimes involving land transactions and criminal breach of trust which allegedly resulted in losses amounting to RM7.1 million to the alleged victims.
