Woman ‘was scapegoat’ in nerve agent killing

A VIETNAMESE woman accused of killing the North Korean leader’s estranged half-brother told police she realised she had been used to murder him after she was detained, her lawyer has said.

Doan Thi Huong and co-defendant Siti Aisyah, from Indonesia, were charged with murdering Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport on February 13 last year. The two are the only suspects in custody, though prosecutors have said four North Koreans who fled the country were also involved.

The court heard earlier Huong told police after she was detained last year she was recruited by a Korean man known as Mr Y in a Hanoi bar in December 2016.

Yesterday, the court heard Huong thought she was playing a harmless prank for a hidden camera show and only knew Mr Kim was dead after police told her. Her lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, said Huong told police Mr Y put an oily substance on her hands and told her to rub her hands together before smearing it on Mr Kim’s face, but she did not know it was VX nerve agent.

Huong said she did not think the substance was poisonous because it did not burn her skin or make her ill, Mr Teh said.

The court heard Huong was told by Mr Y the video on February 13 would be important because it would be uploaded on Youtube.

Huong said in her police statement: “[Mr Y] is liar. He used me to do video on 13/02/2017 for him.”

Police investigator Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz, who disagreed Huong was a scapegoat agreed she could have fled the country and disposed of her Vx-tainted clothing if she had known she was given VX to kill Mr Kim.

The women face the death penalty if convicted, but not if they lacked intent to kill.