Prosecution requests joint hearing on causing hurt, murder cases of varsity students

KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution in the case of 19 Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) students charged with causing hurt to their fellow Navy cadet officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, who later died, has requested the case to be transferred to the High Court and heard together with the case involving six others charged with murdering the victim.

Deputy public prosecutor Nurakmal Farhan Aziz, who prosecuted, submitted the request when the case came up for mention before Magistrate Siti Radziah Kamaruddin yesterday.

Lawyers Mohd Fadhly Hashim, Datuk Ranjit Singh Dhillon, Zamri Idrus, A.G Kalidas and Joshua Tay, representing all the accused, did not object and the court set Oct 30 for case management at the High Court.

On June 14 this year, the 19 UPNM students 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.

They 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.

Six others – Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal; Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi; Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi; Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat; Mohamad Shobirin Sabri andAbdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali – were also charged with murdering and abetting in the murder of Zulfarhan Osman.

All of them, aged 21, are charged with committing the offence 03-05, Jebat hostel block, UPNM, between 2.30 am and 5.30 am on May 21, 2017, and in room 04-10, of the same hostel between 1.30 am and 4.30 am on May 22, 2017.

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 found guilty.

The murder charge against six of them was made under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which provides the death sentence upon conviction.