KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 ― Singapore courts sent Malaysian Kho Jabing today back to the gallows for murder after throwing out his appeal against the death sentence.

Singapore media reported that the decision by the island republic’s apex court, the same court that had sentenced him to death in a controversial 3-2 verdict last year, was unanimous.

The 31-year-old Miri native won a stay of execution last November less than 24 hours before he was due to hang after his lawyer filed an appeal.

Jabing left for Singapore in 2007 searching for better economic opportunities and was hired as a labourer there.

He was first convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 for the murder of China national Cao Ruyin, 40.

When amendments to the mandatory death penalty came into force in 2013, Jabing was deemed eligible to apply for resentencing; his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane by the Singapore High Court.

However, after the prosecution appealed, a 3-2 decision at the Singapore Court of Appeal in January 2015 sent Jabing back to death row.