This follows the decision by the Court of Appeal to allow Sufian Sulaiman’s leave application to review the decision delivered by another bench of the appellate court last year to dismiss his appeal.

A three-member bench chaired by Justice Ruzima Che Ghazali said there were exceptional circumstances to allow the application under Rule 105 of the Court of Appeal Rules 1995.

The applicant was not given the right to be heard before the previous bench invoked provisions in the laws,

 said Ruzima who sat with Justices Lim Chong Fong and Noorin Badaruddin.

A new bench will rehear the appeal and a case management has been fixed on Oct 30.

On July 27, the bench reduced Sufian’s jail term from 14 years to 12 years.

He was also ordered to be whipped five times.

Today, his lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik submitted that the bench invoked Section 60 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, Section 7 of the Evidence Act 1950 and Section 422 of the Penal Code on its own accord without allowing Sufian to make a submission.

The failure to hear him out is a breach of natural justice and a ground recognised by law as a limited and exceptional circumstance warranting the court to use its inherent jurisdiction,

 Hisyam said.

Sufian, 50, last year was appealing against the sessions court’s decision on May 18, 2018, which found him guilty of raping the maid at a house in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur between 3am and 4am in July 2016.

The sessions court sentenced him to 14 years’ jail and five strokes of the cane. His subsequent appeal was dismissed by the High Court on Aug 28, 2020.

Sufian was also represented by lawyers Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, Kee Wei Lon, Amin Othman and Ee Gen You while deputy public prosecutor Eyu Ghim Siang appeared for the prosecution.