Photo: Mother of slain French tourist Staphanie Foray, Irene Mortel, attending the verdict hearing of her daughter’s muder case in Kuantan. -AFP pic
A 39-year old shopkeeper was sentenced to death by hanging today for the murder of a French tourist on Tioman Island in 2011.
Stephanie Foray, 30, disappeared while she was on Tioman Island in May 2011. Some three months later, her partially mummified remains were found buried in a cave on the island.
The Kuantan High Court found Asni Omar, who ran a shop on the island selling beach gear, guilty of Foray’s murder.
Judge Mariana Yahya said the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt for Asni, adding that he “weakened his own defence” by only putting forward a “well -arranged story” to deny his guilt.
AFP reports that Foray’s mother, Irene Mortel, was in attendance during the sentencing.
Asni’s lawyers said they would file an appeal to the sentence in a higher court.
Asni was accused of murdering Foray, a French civil servant travelling through Asia after quitting her job, after she rebuffed his advances.
The sentence comes only weeks after the disappearance of British wildlife conservation volunteer Gareth David Huntley on Tioman Island. Huntley’s body was found after an exhaustive week-long search; investigators have ruled out foul play in that case.
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