HP dealer assists in murder probe

Man came to unlock phone which had a photo resembling victim, says trader

SIBU: Police have recorded a statement from a handphone dealer, who claimed that a man came to him to unlock a handphone containing a photo of a woman who resembled the murdered assistant registrar.

The handphone dealer wrote on Facebook that a man approached him at 10.30am on Thursday with a handphone which he claimed belonged to his wife.

The man said he had forgotten the password.

“When I unlocked it, I saw a picture of a woman in a headscarf.

“Later at about 5pm, I read an online news of a murder at Jalan Tiong Hua. I was shocked to see that the face of the woman in the news resembled the one I saw in the handphone,” the dealer wrote.

Sibu OCPD Asst Comm Stanley Jonathan Ringgit said police were still looking for a man identified as Philip Uja, 40, from Kanowit to assist investigations into the death of the victim under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

Philip was last seen by the neighbour of the victim – Nurnia Azalea Priscilla Edward, 26 – at about 8pm on Wednesday outside her rented house.

Nurnia was found dead by her colleagues at about 2.30pm on Thursday at her bedside.

Her semi-nude body, clad in a sarong, was found with her legs and hands tied to the back, with a cloth covering her face.

Nurnia’s colleagues from the National Registration Department had gone to search for her after her husband, an administrative clerk of a primary school in Tatau, told them on Thursday that she was not answering his phone calls.

The couple had been married for a year and had no children.

Meanwhile, ACP Stanley said a post-mortem revealed that Nurnia had died from head injury after being hit with a blunt object.

Dr Norliza Ibrahim, a pathologist from Kuching General Hospital’s forensic department, conducted the post-mortem and found that the skull of the victim was fractured.

There were also internal bleeding in the head and bruises on her neck, ACP Stanley added.