Used to play pranks, court told
> ‘Suspect was paid RM390-RM780 each time’
SHAH ALAM: The High Court yesterday learnt that Siti Aisyah, the first suspect in the murder of North Korean Kim JongNam, had used baby oil to play pranks on random people before the murder of JongNam.
Investigating officer ASP Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz confirmed the matter as being stated by Siti during police interrogation when cross-examined by defence counsel Gooi Soon Seng.
He also confirmed that Siti, as per her statement to the police, had received between US$100 (RM390) and US$200 per prank for several pranks involving the smearing of “baby oil” on several individuals at KLIA and klia2 airports on Feb 3, 7 and 11, last year.
Wan Azirul said Siti had received RM4,000 from North Korean suspect “Mr Chang” (Hong Song Hac) to travel to Macau on Feb 11, 2017 to play a prank before the trip was eventually called off by him.
The defence team was trying to establish that the suspects had no knowledge that they had smeared VX agent onto Jong-Nam on Feb 13.
The court had earlier heard that VX agent in liquid form is colourless, odourless and has the same viscosity as oil.
Gooi also presented to the court transcripts of SMSes, WeChat and WhatsApp messages showing exchanges related to the pranks conducted among Siti, Hong, Farid as well as taxi driver Kamaruddin (whose name was saved as John on her mobile phone).
Most of the transcripts were subsequently verified by Wan Azirul as produced by Siti during police investigations on her mobile phone.
Among the most interesting transcripts was the WhatsApp message from Chang to Siti asking her to meet him at the Pearl International Hotel in Jalan Klang Lama on Feb 3.
However, Wan Azirul said he was unsure as to Siti’s statement to the police when questioned by Gooi. Gooi said that Chang upon meeting Siti at the hotel had taken away her handphone and deleted all WhatsApp messages of their conversation before returning it to her.
When showed several CCTV clips of events related to the murder, he agreed with Gooi’s assessment that a clip of both Siti and second suspect Doan Thi Huong waiting for their taxis at the klia2 transport hub showed that they had not been in contact with each other on Feb 13, the day of the murder. The trial will resume on Feb 27. Siti, 26, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 29, along with four others still at large, were charged with the murder of Kim Chol, 45, at the KL International Airport 2 (klia2) departure hall at 9am on Feb 13 last year.
Jong-Nam had travelled with a passport bearing the name Kim Chol.