PUTRAJAYA: A barber failed in his last bid to get a lighter punishment after the Federal Court yesterday affirmed his sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for brutally causing the death of his friend four years ago.V Karthiselvam, 30, is the first offender to receive the maximum jail term of 20 years under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code.

He was initially sentenced to 13 years imprisonment by the High Court after pleading guilty to the offence, but the Court of Appeal increased it to 20 years after ruling that the sentence was inadequate.

Karthiselvam, represented by counsel Datuk N Sivananthan, appealed to the Federal Court to restore the sentence imposed by the High Court.

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, in dismissing the appeal, said the Appeal Court was right in imposing the maximum sentence after considering the gruesome murder in the case.

“We will not interfere with the decision of the Court of Appeal and we therefore dismiss this appeal and affirm the sentence by the Court of Appeal,” ruled Justice Malanjum, who sat with justices Datuk Hashim Yusof and Datuk Abdull Hamid Embung.

Karthiselvam was charged with causing the death of M Venkatachalan, 38, at a barber shop in Taman Sri Bahagia, Larkin, Johor Baharu, between 3am and 7.45pm on March 6, 2005.

Karthiselvam, who had stolen Venkatachalan’s money and handphone, smashed the latter’s head with a grinding stone while the victim was asleep to conceal the theft.

Yesterday, Sivananthan submitted that his client was a first offender and had pleaded guilty to the charge, therefore he should be given a discount in his punishment and not to be imposed the maximum jail term.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Bache replied that it was not wrong for a court to impose a maximum sentence as the public interest in this case must be given priority. — Bernama