PUTRAJAYA, Aug 18 — The Court of Appeal here has reserved decision in the appeal by four men who were convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of cosmetics millionairess Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and her three aides.

A three-member bench chaired by Justice Datuk Aziah Ali today completed hearing submissions from counsels representing the four men and the prosecution.

The panel which also comprises justices Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Datuk Seri Zakaria Sam had heard submissions for six days, beginning last Monday (August 10).

Aziah said the court reserved its decision to a date to be fixed later, and the court would notify the prosecution and defence of the date.

Former lawyer N. Pathmanabhan, 45, and farmhands T. Thilaiyalagan, 23, R.  Matan, 24, and R. Kathavarayan, 35, are appealing against their conviction and death sentence for the murder of Sosilawati, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44.

On May 25, 2013, the High Court in Shah Alam found the four men guilty of committing the murder at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat in Banting between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.

Sosilawati and her three aides were reported missing after they allegedly went to Banting for a land deal. Their disappearance made headlines nationwide.

The four men were arrested and charged in court in 2011.

High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir, in his judgment had ruled that land matter

was the key motive for Sosilawati’s murder over Pathmanabhan’s inability to honour a cheque issued to her.

He said the rest who accompanied Sosilawati were merely at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

Akhtar had said that based on information, the police discovered a burnt patch at the back of the farm and unearthed bones which experts later confirmed that some were charred human bones, indicating they were burnt at high temperature.

He said further investigations at the farm belonging to Pathmanabhan revealed an area with blood spots and a cricket bat with traces of blood, adding that an analysis showed the blood matched one of Sosilawati’s aides.

Pathmanabhan was represented by counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon; Thilaiyalagan by counsels Gurbachan Singh and Hisyam Teh Poh Teik; Matan by counsel Amer Hamzah Arshad; and, Kathavarayan by counsel M. Stanislaus Vethanayagam.

The prosecution was led by deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff. — Bernama