| Banting murders | |
|---|---|
 Sosilawati Lawiya | |
| Location | Banting, Selangor, Malaysia |
| Date | 30 August 2010 |
Attack type | Murder |
| Weapons | Cricket bat |
| Deaths | 4 |
| Injured | 0 |
| Victims | Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya (47) Kamaruddin Shamsuddin (44) Noorhisham Mohamad (38) Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim (32) |
| Perpetrator | N. Pathmanabhan (51) T. Thilaiyalagan (20) R. Kathavarayan (31) R. Matan (21) |
| Motive | Money and land matters |
| Accused | N. Pathmanabhan (41) T. Thilaiyalagan (20) R. Kathavarayan (31) R. Matan (21) |
| Convicted | N. Pathmanabhan (41) T. Thilaiyalagan (20) R. Kathavarayan (31) |
| Verdict | All four guilty of all four counts of murder Sentenced to death in 2013 Appeal dismissed by Court of Appeal in 2015 Federal Court dismissed appeal from three accused: Pathmanabhan, Thilaiyalagan and Kathavarayan Matan acquitted by the Federal Court in 2017 |
| Convictions | Murder (x4) |
| Charges | Murder (x4) |
| Judge | Justice Datuk Akhtar Tahir |
On 30 August 2010, in Banting, Selangor, Malaysia, 47-year-old cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and her three companions – bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, and her driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin – had all went missing. The four missing people were later found to have been murdered and had their bodies burnt by a lawyer named N. Pathmanabhan and another three accomplices. The remains of Sosilawati and the three men were later found at a farm in Tanjung Sepat, which belonged to Pathmanabhan. Pathmanabhan and his three farm hands – T. Thilaiyalagan, R. Matan and R. Kathavarayan (also spelt R. Khatavarayan) – were all arrested and charged with murder based on circumstantial evidence and without the bodies of the victims in this case.[1]
In May 2013, the four conspirators were all convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court. A long-drawn appeal process ended in March 2017, with the Federal Court confirming the death sentences of Pathmanabhan, Thilaiyagan, and Kathavarayan but released Matan after citing insufficient evidence to link him to the murders. The condemned trio - Pathmanabhan, Thilaiyagan and Kathavarayan - are still incarcerated on death row as of 2024.[2][3]
The conviction of the killers marked the second case of murder conviction(s) without a body in Malaysia after the 1963 case of Sunny Ang, a law student who was hanged for murdering his girlfriend during a scuba diving trip for her insurance at Sisters' Islands in Singapore, when Singapore was still a part of Malaysia back then.[4]
- ^ "BANTING MURDERS: N. Pathmanabhan, three farm hands gets death". Malaysian Bar. 24 May 2013.
- ^ "Sosilawati murder: Ex-lawyer, two farmhands lose final bid to dismiss conviction, death sentence". The New Straits Times. 16 March 2017.
- ^ "杀害女富商 4死囚上诉1获释". Seehua News (in Chinese). 16 March 2017.
- ^ "Federal Court brings closure to Sosilawati murder case". Free Malaysia Today. 27 March 2017.