Eight charged with murder of schoolmate

BY R.S.N. MURALI

The victim, Muhammad Farid

SEREMBAN: Eight students of a top religious school were jointly charged in a magistrate’s court here yesterday with the murder of their schoolmate Muhammad Farid Ibrahim.  

The accused, all 17 years old, were alleged to have committed the offence at Dorm Osman, Putra Hostel, SM Agama Datuk Klana Petra Maamor, Ampangan, here, between 10.30am and 4.15pm on March 28. 

They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which was read together with Section 149, before Magistrate Suhaila Harun yesterday. 

No plea was recorded from all eight.  

The accused being led out of the magistrate's court in Seremban after being charged.

All were not represented except for two of the boys. 

Earlier, Public Prosecutor Roslan Abu Bakar, who was assisted by DPP Suhaimi Ibrahim, requested the court to postpone the case to another date pending the completion of a full autopsy report. 

The court fixed April 16 for re-mention. 

The eight were brought to the court in a police van at about 10.15am together with six other boys who were later released unconditionally by the same court. 

Before the court proceedings, some of the accused, clad in tracksuits, jeans and T-shirts, were seen sobbing and asking forgiveness from their parents who packed the courtroom. 

The atmosphere outside the courthouse became tense when some of parents got involved in an argument with a group of onlookers who shouted at the accused, calling them pembunuh (murderers). 

“I warn you not to make such remarks, my son is innocent until he is convicted,” the father of one of the accused shouted back during a heated exchange of words.  

At about 12.30pm, the accused were taken back to the lock-up in Seremban Two district police headquarters and later transferred to a detention centre for juvenile offenders in Malacca. 

A hostel warden found Muhammad Farid sprawled in a pool of blood on his bed at about 7pm on Sunday after the boy failed to turn up for dinner at the dining hall .  

Police subsequently arrested 14 of Muhammad Farid's schoolmates to help in investigations. 

Negri Sembilan police chief Senior Asst Comm (I) Datuk Abdul Majid Othman said that based on a post-mortem report, Muhammad Farid succumbed to severe internal injuries resulting from repeated blows to his vital organs between Friday and Sunday. 

Police had initially classified the case as sudden death after the warden lodged a report on Sunday that the victim had fallen in the hostel bathroom.