Kota Kinabalu: An Indonesian man was sentenced by the High Court here on Friday to 30 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for murdering his wife at a vegetable stall in Kepayan in 2023.
Judge Datuk Alexander Siew How Wai imposed the sentence on Jedu Rudu, 45, ordering it to take effect from the date of his arrest on April 8, 2023, after he pleaded guilty to murdering Suria Woade, 38, between 1pm and 2.21pm on April 8, 2023.
The court had ruled on Feb 19 that the prosecution had established a prima facie case and called for Jedu to enter his defence, but he changed his plea to guilty when the case came up for defence on June 18, leading to his conviction and sentencing on Friday.
The prosecution told the court that Jedu and the deceased were husband and wife who had been living separately, and that he stabbed Suria once in the back with a knife following an argument while she was helping her sister sell vegetables at the market before fleeing the scene.
Suria was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital after receiving emergency treatment at the scene but was pronounced dead at 2.21pm, with a post-mortem finding that a single 17cm-deep stab wound to her back caused severe bleeding and respiratory failure, injuries sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
