‘Suspect practised on another person before Kim Jong-Nam murder’
One of the women on trial for murdering the North Korean leader’s half-brother was filmed on CCTV apparently practising on another person two days before the assassination, a court heard on Tuesday, reports AFP.
Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong was filmed at the airport where Kim Jong-Nam was killed approaching someone from behind and gently wiping something on their face, a police officer testified.
It happened in the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s budget terminal, the same area where Kim was murdered.
But officer Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz said the approach in that footage was gentle, in contrast to the “quite aggressive” fashion in which Kim was attacked as he waited at the airport.
Huong and Indonesian Siti Aisyah, in their 20s, are accused of killing Kim on February 13 by rubbing the nerve agent VX on his face in a Cold War-style hit that stunned the world.
The women, who were arrested a few days after the killing and face death by hanging if convicted, have pleaded not guilty to murdering the estranged halfbrother of Kim Jong-Un.
The defendants say they were duped into believing they were taking part in a prank for a reality TV show, and their lawyers blame North Korean agents for the assassination.
On Tuesday the police officer described to the High Court in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, how Huong was filmed on February 11 apparently carrying out a practice run before allegedly killing Kim.
He said she appeared to choose a member of the public at random and wipe something on their face from behind in a gentle fashion. “When the person turned to her direction, the accused Doan seemingly apologised,” he said.
She “bowed her head slightly and put her hands close together in the direction of the person”, he added.