TAWAU: The second accused in the murder of Biotech student at Lahad Datu Vocational College (KVLD) admitted in the High Court on Wednesday to physically assaulting the victim, including slapping and kicking him.
However, the accused (OKT 2) claimed that he never intended to kill the victim, nor did he have any plans to assault the deceased, one Mohamad Nazmie Aizzat Mohd Narul Azwan that night alongside others in Room 7 Belian, 7 Resak and 5 Belian.
Instead, the accused said that his actions were driven by anger when Ijat (the victim’s nickname) refused to confess to theft.
OKT 2, 20, who was the seventh witness, made this statement during cross-examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Nur Nisla Abd Latif on the third day of the defence trial, which was heard before Judge Datuk Duncan Sikodol.
During the cross-examination, Nur Nisla took more than two hours to complete her questioning on the second accused.
DPP: Do you agree that at the time, you also wanted to assault Ijat because accused 1 (OKT 1) had already told you the reason they all attacked Ijat, but he refused to admit it to you?
OKT 2: At that moment, I had no intention to assault him.
DPP: But earlier, you said you started to feel angry when he did not admit to you, even though you were told he had already confessed to stealing.
OKT 2: I agree.
When asked whether he agreed that he also stomped on the victim’s body and head, OKT 2 responded that he only stepped on the waist, not the head.
However, he disagreed with a suggestion that a witness saw him beating and throwing Ijat against a locker.
OKT 2 also agreed with the DPP that there was no coercion from any teacher to write a chronological account of the incident and his involvement on an A4 paper given by teacher Firdaus.
He also denied that he was punished during the police investigation for not confessing but answered “threatened” when asked whether the police treated them well during the investigation process.
DPP: Do you agree that the police treated you well and did not impose any punishment because you were all juvenile offenders?
OKT 2: I agree.
However, during re-examination by his counsel, he stated that his agreement was only for himself when asked whether his response applied to all detainees or just him.
Counsel Mohamed Zairi Zainal Abidin questioned why OKT 2 took matters into his own hands by assaulting the deceased that night instead of reporting the alleged theft to the school.
He explained that he initially wanted to investigate the theft, but when the deceased denied the allegations, he became emotional and angry.
Earlier, the first accused (OKT 1), 17, the sixth witness, testified that they were punished by the police during the investigation by being ordered to do around 50 push-ups, hit with a rubber hose, kicked on the thigh, and forced into a half-squat position.
He said that this occurred in the detention cell when the investigating officer taking their statements pressured them to confess to Ijat’s murder.
“As long as we did not confess, they kept pressuring us as if they were going to beat us again if we did not admit it,” he said during cross-examination-in-chief by counsel Kamarudin Mohmad Chinki.
He added that they were punished throughout the statement-taking process but could not recall how many days it lasted.
Kamarudin: Do you mean for several days?
OKT 1: When they took my statement, I said I did not hit him, but they forced me (to confess to hitting him).
Kamarudin: Were you the only one punished?
OKT 1: When we were punished, we were lined up together.
Kamarudin: Did you see your friends being beaten during the investigation at the police station?
OKT 1: If hit, none. If punished, there was.
Kamarudin: What do you mean by punished?
OKT 1: They made us do push-ups, half-squats, and jumping jacks. That’s all.
When asked how he felt during the investigation, OKT 1 stated that they were forced to confess to hitting the victim until they felt afraid. He also admitted to crying in the detention cell when asked if he had cried at the time.
All 13 students, aged between 16 and 19, are charged with murdering Mohamad Nazmie Aizzat Mohd Narul Azwan, 17, at KVLD between 9pm on 21 March and 7.38 am on March 22, 2024.
The prosecution team is led by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Nur Nisla Abd Latif, assisted by DPPs Ng Juhn Tao and Batrisyia Mohd Khusri. Eight of the 13 teenagers are represented by counsel Kamarudin Mohmad Chinki, Datuk Ram Singh, and Chen Wen Jye.
They include the first, third, fourth, eighth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth accused. The remaining five are represented by counsel Abdul Ghani Zelika (fifth accused), Vivian Thien (sixth accused), Jhesseny P. Kang (seventh accused), Kusni Ambotuwo (ninth accused), and Mohamed Zairi Zainal Abidin (second accused).