UPNM student's murder trial to begin Jan 29

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has fixed 14 days beginning Jan 29 next year for the trial of 19 Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) students accused of murdering, abetting to murder and causing injury to Cadet Officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, last May.
Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah set the date during case management which was attended by deputy public prosecutor Othman Abdullah and Nur Akmal Farhan Aziz.
Apart from Jan 29, the court also set Feb 28, March 28, April 26 to 27, May 14 to 16, June 4 to 5 and June 26 to 29 as the trial dates.
It is estimated that 25 prosecution witnesses will be summoned to testify in the trial.
All of the accused pleaded not guilty to a charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt on Zulfarhan Osman with an intention to get the victim to confess over the theft of a laptop.
The students, all aged 21, are Mohd Hafiz Fauzan Ismail, Mohamad Lukhmanul Hakim Mohd Zain, Ahmad Shafwan Berdal, Muhammad Amirul Asraff Mala, Luqman Hakim Shamsuri , Muhammad Sufi Mohd Mustapha, Noriznan Izzairi Noor Azhar, Muhamad Ashraf Abdullah, Muhammad Danial Firdaus Azmir, Muhammad Hasif Ismail, Muhammad Akmal Akif Alias, Muhammad Adib Iman Fuad Adi Sany and Mohamad Syazwan Musa.
The others are Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri dan Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali.
All of them were also charged with committing the offence at room 03-05, Jebat hostel block, UPNM between 2.30 am and 5.30 am on May 21 and at room 04-10, of the same hostel between 1.30 am and 4.30 am on May 22.
They were charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides an imprisonment for up to seven years and is liable to fine, if convicted.
On Nov 10, five out of the 19 students namely, Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi, Muhammad Azamuddin, Muhammad Najib, Muhammad Afif Najmudin dan Mohamad Shobiri were jointly charged with murdering Zulfarhan Osman at the same place, time and date.
They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code and face the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Abdoul Hakeem, on the other hand, was charged with abetting the five accused in the murder, under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read with Section 302 of the same Code, which carries the same sentence if convicted.
Zulfarhan Osman, 21, died at the Serdang Hospital last June 1, believed to have been abused after he was accused of stealing a laptop computer.
The victim reportedly suffered burns on his chest, arms and feet believed to have been inflicted with a steam iron.— Bernama