AG: Dashcam video, witness testimony justify murder charge in Klang DUI crash

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — Citing clear evidence that a driver’s actions were “so imminently dangerous” that death was a near certainty, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar today defended the decision to level a murder charge in the fatal Klang drink-driving crash.

Speaking on the charge against R. Saktygaanapathy, Dusuki explained that the case meets the threshold for murder under Section 300(d) of the Penal Code, the New Straits Times reported.

He noted the accused’s deliberate act of driving into the opposite lane at high speed, which created a highly perilous situation for the victim, delivery rider Amirul Hafiz Omar.

“The act of the accused entering the opposing lane intentionally and at high speed resulted in a situation that was ‘so imminently dangerous’ to the deceased,” the AG said.

Section 300(d) of the Penal Code defines murder as an act committed with the knowledge that it is so imminently dangerous it will likely cause death, and is carried out without any justification for taking such a risk.

The AG added that the prosecution’s case is supported by witness testimony and dashcam footage that captured the accused’s conduct at the time of the incident.

On April 1, Saktygaanapathy was charged at the Klang Magistrate’s Court with the murder of Amirul Hafiz, who was killed in a head-on collision along Jalan Raya Barat earlier that day.

Court documents revealed that Saktygaanapathy allegedly drove against traffic at high speed before the collision.

The impact flung the victim from his motorcycle onto another vehicle, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Saktygaanapathy also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of self-administering benzodiazepine and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).