Murder accused Doan worried about father’s safety, says cousin

KUALA LUMPUR: Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong, who is one of the accused in the Kim Jong-nam murder trial, is more worried about her father’s safety than her own, according to her cousin.

Tran Huy Hoang (pic), 23, said Doan met her father for more than an hour at the Kajang prison Wednesday, and expressed concern for his safety.

The father Doan Van Thanh and Tran are in Malaysia after a Vietnam-based NGO offered to sponsor their travel expenses.

They arrived here on Monday.

“After this morning’s meeting, her father is happy he can see her and she is doing better.

“She is not sad anymore, but she is pretty worried about the safety of her father here.

“She has asked the Vietnam embassy to prepare a place for him to stay at the embassy and keep him safe until he returns to Vietnam,” Tran told journalists here on Wednesday.

Doan, 29, had also reportedly asked her father not to be present at the Sepang court house on Thursday and to remain at the embassy for his own safety.

“We can go to court tomorrow but after this morning’s meeting, Doan asked her father to remain at the embassy. So maybe Mr Thanh will not go to the court,” said Hoang.

Tran said he would not be allowed into the courtroom because he is not an immediate family member.

Doan is to be produced together with Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, at the Sepang magistrate's court on Thursday, where the case is expected to be transferred to the Shah Alam High Court.

On March 1, the pair were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murdering Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Tran also revealed that Thanh had on Wednesday met with criminal defence lawyer Hisham Teh Poh Teik, who has been appointed as Doan's new lawyer with the help of the Vietnamese NGO.

The other lawyer believed to be representing Doan is Naran Singh.

Tran said Doan's family in Vietnam was shocked about the fate that has befallen her as she was “a very good girl”.

“The whole family and the Vietnamese people know that Huong (Doan) is innocent because she is a very good girl.

“We are also sad because the real criminals have run away,” he said when asked about the North Korean suspects who had gone back to their country immediately after the murder.

Tran also revealed that the family could not come to Malaysia sooner as they did not have the financial means to do so.

According to him, Thanh works as a janitor, while Doan's mother died last year from a heart disease.

Doan also has three siblings back home.

Both Tran and Thanh are expected to fly back this Saturday.

Jong-nam was killed at KLIA2 on Feb 13 while awaiting a flight to Macau.

The two female suspects are alleged to have sprayed him with a chemical that has since been identified as the deadly VX nerve agent.

Doan was arrested on Feb 15 as she was attempting to catch a flight back to Vietnam, while Siti Aisyah was detained early the following day.