SIBU: The High Court on Tuesday (July 28) sentenced a burger seller to death for the brutal murder of a woman café worker during a botched robbery in Sibujaya more than two years ago.
Justice Wong Siong Tung ruled that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, rejecting the accused’s defence that the fatal stabbing was accidental.
The court found that William Tinggi, 30, from Kapit, deliberately armed himself with a kitchen knife, disguised his identity before the attack and launched a sustained assault on the unarmed victim inside the 29 Café on Feb 23, 2024.
He was convicted for the murder of 25-year-old Angela Joseph.
In delivering the sentence, the judge described the killing as “calculated, brutal and merciless”, stressing that the accused preyed on a defenceless woman at her workplace for a trivial financial gain.
The judge noted that although the court had considered the accused’s age, lack of proven previous convictions and personal circumstances, those factors were overwhelmingly outweighed by the gravity of the crime.
“The accused armed and disguised himself in advance, attacked an unarmed woman at her workplace, inflicted numerous stab and defensive injuries, took a life for a small amount of money, part of which was spent on drugs, and then attempted to conceal his involvement,” he said.
Wong held that the violence inflicted was grossly disproportionate to the objective of the robbery and that the accused had shown neither genuine remorse nor true acceptance of responsibility.
He ruled that the heinous nature of the offence, coupled with the accused’s complete disregard for the sanctity of human life, warranted the most severe punishment permitted by law, adding that a prison sentence alone would not adequately reflect the gravity of the crime.
Accordingly, Tinggi was sentenced to death by hanging under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mark Kenneth Netto argued that the accused’s unsworn statement from the dock — claiming he had only intended to frighten the victim and that the stabbing was accidental — was a fabricated afterthought unsupported by any objective evidence.
In his closing submission, Netto contended that the cumulative evidence — including the victim’s dying declaration, DNA found on the murder weapon, CCTV recordings, medical findings and the accused’s conduct after the incident — pointed irresistibly to his guilt.
