PUTRAJAYA, May 20 — A woman who murdered her close friend, by stabbing her seven times, escaped the gallows, after the Federal Court commuted the death sentence to 33 years in jail.

A three-member panel of judges, chaired by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, made the ruling after allowing the application filed by 46-year-old Ooi Ai Peng, for a review of the death sentence.

"The court set aside the death sentence, and replaced it with a prison sentence of 33 years, starting from the date of arrest on March 13, 2010,” said Judge Tengku Maimun, who presided together with Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court Judge, Datuk Nordin Hassan.

Earlier, lawyer T. Jayaraj, who represented Oii, asked the court to allow a review application to set aside the death sentence, and said that his client had been in prison for 14 years.

Deputy public prosecutor, Tetralina Ahmed Fauzi, objected to the application, but if the court allowed the application, the prosecution proposed a sentence of at least 33 years against Ooi.

Earlier, before sentencing, Judge Nordin asked if the applicant (Ooi) was a male.

The prosecution answered, "female”.

Ooi was found guilty by the Alor Setar High Court, in 2011, for killing Suhana Mohd Sharif, 26, outside premises numbered 167, Taman Kristal Mergong, Alor Setar, at 9.30pm, on March 3, 2010, and she was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

In that incident, there was an argument between the two women, who were also colleagues at a stationery store, believed to have stemmed from a disagreement.

Suhana was stabbed seven times, before being confirmed dead at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (HSB), at 11.35pm on the same date (March 3), while Ooi stabbed herself and cut her wrists. — Bernama