Mum meets alleged killers
Tears from Nhaveen’s mother as suspects appear in court
GEORGE TOWN: The mother of a teenager who was bludgeoned to death could not hold back her tears when she saw, for the first time since her son’s death, the youths accused of murdering him.
“It is her first time attending the court proceedings of her son’s death,” said lawyer Datuk Baljit Singh yesterday.
D. Shanti, 43, who is mother to 18-year-old T. Nhaveen, appeared solemn as she arrived around 10.40am. She was accompanied by her relatives and Baljit, who held a watching brief for her family. A hush fell over the courtroom when the four were led into the dock in handcuffs at around 11am.
J. Ragesuthen and S. Gokulan, both 18, along with two other youths, one aged 16 and another who turned 18 in July, were charged with murdering Nhaveen between 11pm and midnight on June 9 near a learning centre in Jalan Kaki Bukit, Bukit Gelugor.
They were jointly charged in June under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence on conviction.
When the case was brought up for mention yesterday, DPP Mohamad Syafiq Mohd Sazalli asked for a new date as the post-mortem report was not ready.
Senior assistant registrar Nur Fadrina Zulkhairi fixed Dec 6 for case management as the four accused needed to be brought in by the police from the Sungai Petani juvenile detention facility.
Baljit later told reporters that Nhaveen’s family paid RM1,000 to Penang Hospital for a copy of the post-mortem report.
“Only when the report is obtained, then the case can be transferred to the High Court.
“We are not pushing for it to be ready quickly. We want a complete and error-free post-mortem,” he said.
The four teenagers will also be brought to the Sessions Court today for the case mention of another charge of causing grievous hurt to Nhaveen’s friend, T. Previin, 19, with a helmet at the same time and place.
The accused were represented by lawyers Datuk Ranjit Singh, S. Yagoo and Maanveer Singh.