Court acquits father on charge of murdering children

A tractor operator escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today acquitted and discharged him on a charge of murdering his three children who were found drowned in a pond. A three-man panel chaired by Datuk Mohtaruddin Baki unanimously allowed R. Munesuaran's appeal to set aside his conviction and death sentence after ruling that his appeal had merits. Justices Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Datuk Zamani A. Rahim were the other two judges presiding on the panel. Munesuaran, 33, was appealing against a Muar High Court decision, delivered on February 24 this year, which sentenced him to death after finding him guilty of the triple murder. After the court handed down the verdict, Munesuaran, who was clad in the red-white prison attire, said "Thank you, Yang Arif" to the panel. He was nodding his head and smiling. He was charged with the murder of his two daughters – Nivyatharshini, five, and Renisha, three, – and a son, Thevanesh, two, at a retention pond in Ladang Lambak Elias, Jalan Mengkibol, between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on August 22, 2011. Earlier, Munesuaran's counsel, Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi argued that his client ought to be acquitted because there were misdirection by the High Court judge, which prejudiced Munesuaran's right for a fair trial. He said the judge had misdirected himself by admitting the husband and wife privilege communication as evidence, adding that without the evidence, there was no other evidence to link Munesuaran to the murder. Afifuddin said it was unfortunate that three lives were lost, but Munesuaran could only be convicted with the application of the right procedure of law, which was not followed. He said the High Court judge had wrongly treated a prosecution witness, which was Munesuaran's father, who testified that the children could have wondered on their own to the pond, as a hostile witness. The testimony of Munesuaran's father carried weight to his (Munesuaran's) defence, said Afifuddin. He also submitted that there were material discrepancies and contradictions between three prosecution witnesses on whether Munesuaran did confess to killing the children. Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Mukhzany Fariz Mohd Mokhtar, who prosecuted, submitted that Munesuaran's conviction was safe as circumstantial evidence showed that he had committed the offence. It was reported that Munesuaran took his three children to the pond after telling his family that he was taking them fishing. He returned home several minutes later without the children. The bodies of the three children were fished out of the pond later that day. – Bernama, October 26, 2015.]]>