A car salesman escaped the mandatory death sentence when the High Court in Alor Setar today acquitted him of a charge of murdering a female marketing executive in 2006.

Shahril Jaafar, 33, who was shocked to hear the verdict, rushed out of the dock and out of the courtroom immediately after Judicial Commissioner Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab handed down his decision.

Still looking dazed, he just stood still in front of press photographers who were taking shots of him, and was then called by a policeman to return to the dock.

In the judgment, Mohd Zaki said the accused’s DNA and the semen stains taken from the victim’s private part did not match.

He said a post-mortem conducted on the victim found that she died due to stab wounds on the neck and not because she was raped.

In this case, the prosecution had failed to prove that the accused had stabbed the victim and the possibility of a third person involved, based on evidence by witnesses, could not be ruled out, he added.

Mohd Zaki said he was acquitting the accused because there was no clear evidence to implicate him with the murder.

The case received public attention as Shahril, whose businessman father has a ‘Datuk’ title, had fled to Perth in 2006 and had obtained an Australian permanent resident status.

Shahril fled the country after he was released on police bail pending a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test, but was apprehended by the police at the KL International Airport on arrival from Perth on Jan 17 last year.

He was charged with murdering Chee Gaip Yap, 25, in the compound of Kelab Cinta Sayang, Sungai Petani, between 5.30pm on Jan 14, 2006 and 3.05am the following day.

The woman’s semi-nude body was found at Jalan Kelab Cinta Sayang on Jan 15, 2006. She was believed to have been raped.

Deputy public prosecutor Razali Che Ani prosecuted, while Shahril was represented by lawyer Shamsul Sulaiman.

- Bernama