THE final chapter of a love triangle that resulted in a murder two years ago was finally closed on Tuesday, when the Court of Appeal dismissed the prosecution's appeal to jail the woman in the middle for life.

A nine-year jail sentence for pub waitress Aniza Essa, 26, handed down last year was appropriate, the court, presided over by Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, ruled Tuesday.

Aniza, a mother of two, was convicted of instigating her 16-year-old boyfriend to kill her disc-jockey husband and jailed nine years last April.

The teen was convicted of murder and would have been sentenced to hang were he not below 18. Now he remains in jail until the President decides to release him.

This disparity apparently so upset the prosecution that Attorney-General Walter Woon himself decided to challenge the sentence before the Court of Appeal.

In his view, she should be jailed for life given her 'cunning and manipulative ways' and the cruel nature of the crime.

Plus, the lower court judge gave too much weight to Aniza's 'self-serving' statements regarding her mental state, which led psychiatrists to conclude that she was emotionally disturbed at the time of the crime.

The sentence also sent a wrong signal, he added, that potential offenders in loveless marriages can get away with only a few years in jail if they got rid of their spouses.

The A-G's appearance in court last July drew a packed crowd of lawyers, as he presented his arguments and took questions from the judges.

Yesterday, the court released a 47-page report explaining why they could not agree with the prosecution.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.