By: Rita Jong

KUALA LUMPUR: It was a murder case which captured the imagination. A man was killed in his bedroom after a hearty meal and was buried in the garden of his house in Bandar Baru Bangi on Hari Raya five years ago.

Reyaz Ahamed Maruf was tied to the bedposts and had his mouth glued before he was strangled with a piece of wire and buried in a shallow grave.

Yesterday, his wife, Shahmin Bano Mohammed Farooque, 41, and her cousin, Javeed Akhtar Abdul Waheed, 39, both Indian nationals, were found guilty of the murder after a full hearing which saw 18 witnesses taking the stand.

High Court judge Datuk Zaharah Ibrahim sent Shahmin, a housewife, and Javeed, a machine operator, to the gallows.

Zaharah said she found the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case, adding that she would provide the grounds of judgment in due time.
The case was initially dubbed the "curry murder trial" as newspaper reports earlier suggested that Reyaz was drugged before he was murdered.

The reports stated that the curry he had for dinner before he was murdered was laced with sleeping pills.

During the trial, however, it was adduced through the post-mortem report that there were no traces of sleeping pill or drugs in Reyaz's stomach.

The trial was heard in Shah Alam High Court but the decision was delivered at the Jalan Duta Court Complex yesterday as Zaharah was transferred here earlier this year.

After sentence was passed, Shahmin looked tearful. Javeed wore a disbelieving look as he cupped his hands together.

In her defence, Shahmin claimed that three others committed the murder, accusing Javeed, a man called Ayub Khan and another unidentified person.

Shahmin claimed she tried to help Reyaz but was threatened by Ayub.

Javeed, meanwhile, claimed he did not have any motive to kill Reyaz and alleged that Shahmin had called him to help bury the victim.

But Shahmin's two children told the court how they saw their uncle (Javeed) strangle their father while their mother stood beside the bed and held Reyaz's hands down.

The two girls also testified that they saw Javeed and Shahmin dig a hole in the garden to bury their father.

Javeed was working as a labourer at Reyaz's factory.

Reyaz, from Teluk Intan, was the co-owner of Cyplass Engineering Sdn Bhd, a plastic recycling factory in Semenyih.

Reyaz was married to Shahmin for 14 years.

They have four children between the ages of 8 and 18 who are now staying with Reyaz's family.

Deputy public prosecutor Roshidah Abu Bakar prosecuted while Shahmin and Javeed were represented by counsel Kartar Singh and J. Kuldeep Kumar, respectively.