At the trial, Sa'at claimed that he did not expect that Letchimi would be severely burned to death as he only wanted to burn her legs and frighten her. Nevertheless, the High Court found Sa'at guilty of murder on 27 May 1977. However, due to his age, Sa'at escaped the death penalty and thus he was indefinitely detained under TPP. Sa'at, who began serving his sentence in Changi Prison, was reportedly the 12th person to be held under TPP and it was speculated that he would spend around ten years in prison for Letchimi's murder. Upon appeal, however, Sa'at's murder conviction was reduced to one of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and thus his sentence was reduced to three years' probation.
