SINGAPORE, July 5 — He killed his friend by throwing her over the parapet of a multi-storey car park — all because he wanted S$300 (RM915) to repair a mobile phone he borrowed from her.
For the murder of 23-year-old Atika Dolkifli, Syed Maffi Hasan, 28, was sentenced in the High Court on Thursday (July 4) to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane.
The incident happened nearly four years ago — on August 31, 2015. Atika’s body was discovered only three days later by a stranger at the car park.
The prosecution had asked for a life sentence and caning for Syed Maffi. His lawyer, Kishan Pratap, pleaded for the “least number of strokes” yesterday.
The lawyer also told Justice Aedit Abdullah of Syed Maffi’s issues with drugs, which landed him in jail in 2011 and 2015.
The youngest of three sons, Syed Maffi “started experimenting with controlled drugs because of his older brother,” who is now behind bars.
He tried to kick the habit in 2012 and “worked hard” after his first release from prison, but was “young and easily influenced,” the lawyer said.
Kishan further noted that Syed Maffi went almost totally blind from an assault when he was in the Singapore Boys’ Home from 2007 to 2009.
Syed Maffi has also complained of bleeding from his anus, said Kishan, who added that he had informed his client that a medical exam will be carried out before the caning.
“He regrets his actions and he accepts that was something he acted out of proportion for. It was in a fit of fury... he apologises unreservedly to the family of his victim,” the lawyer added.
For murder, Syed Maffi could have received the death penalty.
What happened
Syed Maffi and Atika became acquainted through Facebook in 2013. They lost contact a few months later, before rekindling their friendship in May 2015.
During the trial, the court heard that Atika had lower-than-usual intelligence level when she was 12 but she was able to work.
She lent Syed Maffi her iPhone 5C in 2015 when he did not have a phone at the time.
When the phone’s screen became faulty, he took it to a repair shop and was charged S$90. He paid another S$35 when the phone’s battery became faulty about four weeks later.
Syed Maffi, who was unemployed and in need of money, told Atika that the repairs cost S$300.
He showed up several times at Atika’s workplace, a Pizza Hut branch in Toa Payoh, to look for her but to no avail.
On August 20, 2015, he turned up at her house and told her father that she owed him S$300, but was turned away. He was also warned by her brother not to contact her again, and to keep the phone.
Less than two weeks later, on August 31, Syed Maffi arranged to meet Atika after she finished her work shift. They went to the roof garden of a multi-storey car park along Toa Payoh Lorong 2, where they got into an argument.
He pushed her on her chest and she fell backwards off the edge of a flight of stairs, hitting the back of her head on the steps.
While she was semi-conscious and groaning, he then dragged her by her armpits down the remaining steps to Deck 5A of the building. Lifting her, he threw her over the parapet. She plunged head-first onto a landing on Deck 3A.
An autopsy report showed that Atika sustained multiple fractures and serious lacerations on her scalp and face.
After he threw her off the building, Syed Maffi took steps to cover his tracks. He picked up her name tag and keys, walked up the stairs to the roof garden, and threw them in a drain near the stairs.
The next evening, on September 1, Atika’s father made a police report saying she had not returned home.
Syed Maffi was identified during police investigations, which included the use of closed-circuit television footage.
An Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist, who examined Syed Maffi on four separate occasions and spoke to his family, concluded that he did not suffer from any psychiatric disorder and knew the nature of his acts. — TODAY
