Lawyer Shafee Abdullah confirmed that the 90-year-old passed at about 11.11am, after being discharged from hospital yesterday.

“He was discharged at the family’s request so that he could be at home,” Shafee told FMT.

He said he first met Shaik Daud in the early 1980s, when the latter was a deputy public prosecutor.

“He was the best trial judge and appellate judge I have ever appeared before.

“He was one of the most illustrious judges,” Shafee recalled, noting that many landmark cases were heard before him, including the widely cited Kerry Wiley case, which involved an American national charged with drug trafficking.

He added that Shaik Daud died from a lung infection.

The Penang-born Shaik Daud obtained his barrister-at-law from Lincoln’s Inn, London, and was called to the Bar in England in December 1962.

He started his career in the Legal and Judicial Service in 1963 and was appointed as a High Court judge in 1983. He retired from the Court of Appeal in 2001.

He also served on the board of trustees of the Tun Suffian Foundation and was a registered arbitrator at the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration.

Separately, former Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer described Shaikh Daud as one of Malaysia’s most respected judges, who always displayed integrity, knowledge and an abundance of patience when hearing counsel’s submissions, especially in criminal cases.

“He also delivered prompt, well-reasoned written judgments,” he said, recalling his own experience appearing before Shaikh Daud when he was a lawyer.