‘Jong-nam had antidote on him’

SHAH ALAM: North Korean Kim Chol, who was murdered with VX nerve agent, had a dozen bottles of antidote in his backpack, the High Court heard.

The 12 bottles were filled with Atropine, a medication used to combat the effects of certain types of nerve agents and poisons including VX.

This was testified by the Alcohol and Clinical Toxicology Unit chief Dr K. Sharmilah, 38, from the Chemistry Department.

“I received the items (antidote) together with seven other exhibits from police who handed it to me at about 4.06pm on March 10 for toxicology tests,” she said yesterday during examination-in-chief by DPP Mohd Fairuz Johari.

She denied that the labels on the bottles were in Korean, as suggested by defence counsel Gooi Soon Seng.

The witness was testifying in the trial of Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, who are both charged, with four others still at large, with the murder of Kim Chol, 45, at the departure hall of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 at 9am on Feb 13.

Kim Chol is the alias used by Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, when he travelled.

Dr Sharmilah agreed with Gooi that a pesticide could also cause death and result in the same symptoms as VX poisoning.

Another witness, Asst Supt Nasrol Sain Hamzah, 38, testified that he seized the infamous “LOL” T-shirt which was worn by Doan on the day Kim Chol was murdered.

The suspect was interrogated at the Sepang district police headquarters and informed ASP Nasrol that she could identify which clothes she had worn on Feb 13.

In a raid on Feb 15, ASP Nasrol and his team were led by the suspect to the room she rented at Sky Star Hotel in Sepang.

“The room was cluttered. The bed was unmade and there was a pile of clothes on the floor,” he said.

The witness said the shirt and a colourful dress were found in an open Hello Kitty bag. The bag was on the floor at the edge of the bed.

“I did not touch the clothes because I was worried about the chemical compounds on the ‘LOL’ shirt and the dress,” he said.

The hearing continues before Justice Azmi Ariffin today.