Use of Present Perfect Tense against its Rule

In my last posting of March 25, 2011, a common mistake was mentioned therein.

Another frequent error committed by writers appears in the following sentence found in a news item dated March 28, 2011 of the same popular English daily.

THE last European principal of the prestigious Penang Free School here, J.M.B, Hughes has passed away at his home in United Kingdom on March 16, five days after his beloved wife Jean passed away on March 11.

The present perfect can give a starting time or an amount of time only if we use the words 'since' and 'for'.

Hence, the sentence in question should have been written as "THE last European principal of the prestigious Penang Free School here, J.M.B, Hughes passed away at his home in United Kingdom on March 16, five days after his beloved wife Jean passed away on March 11."