Zulfarhan's murder trial: Prosecution to prove 19 UPNM students involved

KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution will prove that the death of Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) student, cadet officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, was due to the fact that he was beaten, kicked and inflicted upon by a hot steam iron by 19 students of the university for refusing to confess that he had stolen a laptop.
In his opening statement on the first day of the trial of the case, deputy public prosecutor Othman Abdullah told the High Court here today that the prosecution would also prove the involvement of the 19 students in murdering, abetting to murder and causing injury to the deceased.
Othman said all the accused had hit the victim with their hands and kicked him non stop for three hours from 2.30am on May 21, 2017 to 5.30am the same day and repeated the same acts from 1.30am to 4.30am on May 22, 2017.
"However, the fate of the deceased (Zulfarhan) did not end at 4.30am, the prosecution's case facts will show that at 4.45 am (of the same day), after some of the accused left the room 04-10 (UPNM hostel) the interrogation of the deceased was resumed by the first of the sixth accused.
"During the interrogation, the first accused was holding a steam iron, then the sixth accused had asked the first accused to put the steam iron onto the deceased, causing him to scream in pain.
"The second to the fifth accused had also put the same steam iron onto the deceased's body. The act was stopped when the call of the Subuh prayer started at 5.45am," he said before Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah.
Othman said the prosecution's witness, a forensic specialist, would also submit a post-mortem report showing that the deceased had suffered body injuries and the cause of death was severe burns.
According to him, there were also first, second and third degree burns that were spotted on Zulfarhan's body during a recovery process.
The trial of the case which began at 9.30am drew large crowds including the accused's family members.
Also present were seven members of Zulfarhan's family who were all wearing blue t-shirts bearing the words #justice4farhan, #sayNOtoBULLY and #humanity.
All of the accused pleaded not guilty to a charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt on Zulfarhan with an intention to get the victim to confess over the theft of a laptop.
The students, all aged 22, 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 and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali.
All of them were charged with committing the offence at room 03-05, Jebat hostel block, UPNM between 2.30am and 5.30am on May 21 and at room 04-10, of the same hostel between 1.30am and 4.30am on May 22.
They were charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides for a maximum jail term of seven years and fine, if convicted.
Five out of the 19 students, namely Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi, Muhammad Azamuddin, Muhammad Najib, Muhammad Afif Najmudin and 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, while Abdoul Hakeem was charged with abetting the five accused in the murder, under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 302 of the same Code, which carries the same sentence if convicted. — Bernama