Accused: I helped victim to get medical treatment

BY SIMON KHOO

SEREMBAN: A juvenile accused of murdering Muhammad Farid Ibrahim told the High Court here that he had worked tirelessly to get medical treatment for his schoolmate. 

The accused, who switched his option from testifying under oath to giving his statement from the dock yesterday, said he did not hold an iron rod when questioning the victim as alleged. 

He also maintained that he had neither assaulted nor conspired with seven others to cover up the matter. 

The 17-year-old accused, who had earlier challenged the admissibility of his cautioned statement in a trial-within-a-trial, read out the five-page statement before Justice Azhar Ma’ah. 

The accused, who is the fifth of eight juveniles on trial for the murder of Muhammad Farid, said he had never instructed anyone to borrow the victim’s kettle or confronted him at any time. 

The eight Form Five students of SM Agama Datuk Klana Petra Maamor are charged with killing Muhammad Farid, 16, at the Osman dormitory on the second floor of the boys’ hostel block at the school in Ampangan, here, between 10.30am and 4.15pm on March 28. 

The accused also said he did not slap Muhammad Farid as stated in his cautioned statement and added that not a single prosecution witness had testified he had done so. 

He said while walking past the Osman dormitory, he heard a loud noise and saw Muhammad Farid lying on the floor. 

“I asked the four students inside what had happened to Muhammad Farid and one of them told me that he had fought with the victim.  

“I told him to stop fighting as we were all hostel mates,” he said, adding that Muhammad Farid, who was still conscious, told him in a weak voice that his head was painful.  

The accused said he helped Muhammad Farid to a bed and asked two of the students to massage the victim’s head.  

“I went back to the dormitory later and saw saliva oozing out from Muhammad Farid’s mouth and his eyes were shut as if he was unconscious,” he said, adding that he started to panic and then sought help from a warden to take the victim to the hospital. 

Another of the accused told Deputy Public Prosecutor Roslan Abu Bakar that he did not kick the victim on the stomach and back causing him to fall.  

The sixth accused also denied that he and the seven others attacked Muhammad Farid because they were unhappy over the “kettle” issue. 

Then, the seventh accused disagreed with the prosecution's suggestion that he had hit the victim’s head against a cupboard at least twice. He told the court that he had earlier seen Muhammad Farid surrounded by between seven and eight students and they were arguing but his pleas for them to stop went unheeded. 

The hearing continues today.